Learning To Love
by SakuraJade
Summary: AU fic. Sakura and Syaoran's parents set them up in hopes for a marriage but they totally clashed so she got engaged to Eriol. After a sudden turn of events, S&S are thrown together on a quest to save their kingdoms and the world. More description inside.
1. Greetings and Goodbyes

**A/N:** So this story was written several years ago and seemed pretty well liked when it was posted back in the day but as stated in my profile it got removed like all my other ones so I've fixed it up and am now reposting it. Hope people like it as much as they did the first time around. This one isn't exactly original b/c it takes place in mid- evil times, you know, where everybody is royalty etc. and a lot of other authors had done this even when I first published this about 5 years ago. But, I'm hoping the plot is interesting enough and somewhat different from the rest.

**Description:** Okay, Sakura and Tomoyo are princesses (big surprise lol) and Syaoran and Eriol are princes. For the record, the Clow Cards are not in this story, although all kinds of magic will be. Sakura and Syaoran's parents introduced them hoping that they might get married, but things didn't exactly work out (coz Syaoran's a jerk). So Sakura ends up getting engaged to Eriol. Then, the night of the ball they're throwing in honor of their engagement, something happens, and now Sakura and Syaoran are on a journey together to save their kingdoms. But, what if they fall in love along the way? What about Eriol? What if everybody thinks this story sucks? To hell if I know, but I'm going to give it a shot and hope anybody reading this likes it! :) So let's get to it!

Disclaimer: "I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, CLAMP does." Now, onto chapter one!

"means spoken words

_italics_means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N etc.

**Learning To Love**

_Chapter 1: Greetings and Goodbyes_

Long ago, in an age when kings and queens ruled, lived a beautiful princess of sixteen. She was well known for her beauty and kindness not only in her kingdom, but in all the kingdoms through out the land. Though she was very well known, there was a secret about her that even she herself did not know about, and it had to do with the crystal shard necklace that hug from her neck since birth. Aside from that, she still hadn't found a prince she desired to marry, and her parents were starting to get anxious for her to choose a husband. On a particular spring morning, Princess Sakura's father, King Fujitaka called her to his throne room.

"Yes, father? You called?"

Fujitaka cleared his throat for the conversation he was about to have with his daughter. There was a chance it might not go smoothly.

"Yes, your mother and I have decided that it is time for you to choose a prince to be your husband."

Sakura frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "But, I have not found one that I love yet."

"That's why your mother and I want you to come with us tomorrow when we go to our neighboring kingdom to the east."

Sakura blinked. "The Li kingdom?"

"Yes," came her father's short reply.

"Why?"

"Because we want you to meet their son, Prince Syaoran. His mother, Queen Yelan, said that she is in the same predicament with him that we are in with you," Nadeshiko answered.

"Just come with us and meet him. If you don't like him then you can forget all about him," Fujitaka added.

"Please dear?" her mother pleaded.

Sakura sighed in defeat. "All right, I'll go. But . . . only for you."

Her father smiled at her warmly. "Thank-you, Sakura."

She bowed to her parents and left the throne room. On her way back to her bedroom, she ran into her big brother, Prince Toya.

"What's wrong with you, squirt?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her big brother. "What?"

"You look . . . depressed. Are you okay?"

Sakura looked away, avoiding his gaze. "I'm fine."

Toya shook his head as he said, "That's a lie if I've ever heard one. You can't fool your big brother."

"Well, it's just . . . Mother and Father want me to meet the prince of the Li kingdom as a possible match for my future husband."

Toya raised an eye brow. "Really? I've heard stories about that guy. It sounds like he's a real jerk."

Sakura put her head down. "Swell . . ."

XXXXXX

The next day Sakura, Toya, and their parents all set out for the Li kingdom. As soon as their coach arrived, Queen Yelan was there to greet them. Nadeshiko stepped out first, followed by Fujitaka and then Toya.

"Nadeshiko! It's so good to see you again!" Yelan exclaimed as she gave her old friend a hug.

Nadeshiko smiled, "Yes, it's been too long hasn't it?"

"That's an understatement. The last time I saw you, your daughter was only two! Speaking of, where is she?"

"She's right here." Nadeshiko turned back to the carriage and called to her daughter. "Sakura, come out please."

The princess stepped out of the coach and bowed to Yelan. "Good afternoon, Queen Yelan. I'm very pleased to meet you."

Yelan smiled in return as she said, "Why what a polite princess you are, and so cute too."

Sakura blushed in embarrassment. "Thank you for inviting us to your castle."

"Oh don't worry about it. I'm so very glad you came. I can't wait for you to meet my son!" The beautiful queen said as she waved her hand.

Sakura glanced at Toya, who mouthed the word "jerk". Sakura turned back around to Yelan and plastered a fake smile on her face. "Yes, I'm . . . looking forward to it . . ."

Up in the castle, a girl with long black hair pulled up into bonbon pigtails was looking down at Sakura and her family from the prince's window. Syoaran was on his bed staring at the ceiling not showing the slightest interest in the Kinomoto family's arrival. Meilin was the closest thing he had to a friend. She wasn't a princess, but she was his cousin, so she was of noble blood. Her parents were both deceased, so she lived with her aunt, Queen Yelan and her cousins Syaoran, Fanran, Feimei, Fuutie, and Sheifa, his four older sisters.

Meilin turned away from the window and addressed her seemingly uninterested cousin. "She's here."

"Who cares?" Syaoran shot back not taking his eyes off the ceiling.

"Aren't you even just a little bit curious about her? I mean she is pretty well known. I myself have heard nothing but good things about her. Plus, she looked pretty cute," Melin finished with a wink.

Syaoran returned her wink with a glare. "So? I don't care who she is. I have absolutely no interest in her what-so-ever."

Meilin leaned against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. "Jeeze, you're such a stick in the mud, Syaoran! At least give her a chance!" A sly smile spread across her face as she continued, "You never know she could end up being the girl of your dreams."

Syaoran scowled at the very thought. "Yeah right. I have no interest in girls, period."

Meilin opened her mouth to speak but Syaoran cut her off before she could make a wise crack about his last statement. "Or boys either!"

Meilin put her hands up in front of her in defeat. Syaoran continued. "All I care about is one day becoming the king of the Li kingdom. I'm just going along with meeting this princess because mom wants me to."

"Don't you want to eventually rule the kingdom with a queen by your side?"

"Why? I don't need a queen. I don't need anyone, especially if she comes from a weak kingdom like the Kinomoto one."

Meilin sighed, arguing with her cousin was futile. "If you say so. Either way, you'd better get your butt downstairs before your mother gets mad."

Syaoran got off the bed and head for the door, Meilin tagging along. "Yeah yeah, I'm going. I might as well just get this over with. What a waste of my morning . . ."

When Syaoran and Meilin got downstairs to the sitting room, Yelan had just finished introducing Syaoran's four sisters, who were squealing at how cute Sakura and Toya were. Yelan saw the pair of cousins standing in the doorway and beckoned them in with her hand. "Ah, and here's my son and my niece."

Meilin walked up to Sakura first and bowed. "Good afternoon. My name's Meilin, it's nice to meet you, Princess."

Sakura bowed back and smiled. "Please just call me Sakura. It's a pleasure to meet you, Meilin."

Syaoran just stood there till his mother pushed him forward. He sighed and half-heartedly bowed. "My name's Syaoran."

Yelan nudged him.

"It's, uh, nice to meet you."

Sakura smiled at him and bowed politely, her hands clasped together in front of her legs. "Good afternoon, Prince Syoaran. I'm Princess Sakura, but you can just call me Sakura if you'd like. I'm very pleased to meet you."

Now that Sakura and Syaoran were introduced, Yelan wanted them to go off on their own to spend some time alone together so they could get to know each other better.

"Well, Syaoran, why don't you go show Princess Sakura around our castle?"

"Because I don't want to," he stated flatly.

Yelan glared daggers at her son as she chided him. "Syoaran!"

He sighed and grabbed his unwanted guest's wrist. As soon as he touched her he felt a very strong pink aura emanating from her. It was warm and soft, but very powerful and Syaoran knew it was something to keep an eye on. He shook his head to snap himself out of his stupor then he proceeded to drag Sakura down the hallway with him.

"Fine. Come on let's go."

Sakura let him pull her along, wincing a little at his tight grip. "Um, Prince Syaoran, you're holding my wrist . . . kind of tight . . ."

Sakura and Syaoran disappeared around the corner. Yelan turned to the rest of the people still standing there and smiled. "Well, who's up for some tea?"

XXXXXX

Syaoran finished showing, or more like dragging Sakura around the castle, so he dragged her around the outside gardens to finish the tour.

"And these last flowers over here are the lotus blossoms."

Syaoran finally let go of her wrist, which was a bit on the red side from his rough grip, and started to walk away. Sakura called after him.

"W-wait! Where are you going?"

Syaoran stopped. "Back to my room."

Sakura cocked her head to the side as she said, "But what about me?"

Syaoran turned around to look at her, his face expressionless. "What about you?"

Sakura's mouth dropped open a little, appalled at his hospitality or lack thereof. "I'm your guest! You can't just leave me here!"

"You're not my guest; you're my mother's guest. And I did what she told me to do. I showed you around. Now if you don't mind," Syaoran bowed mockingly, "Princess . . ." He turned his back to her intent on leaving her behind.

"But, we're supposed to spend the day together to see how well we get along! If you had no interest in giving a relationship with me a chance, then why did I bother coming!" Sakura yelled.

Syaoran stopped and turned to face her again as he yelled back, "You're asking me! How the heck should I know? Like I said, my mother invited you, not me."

Sakura scowled at her rude host. "My brother was right, you are a jerk! I'm sorry I ever even considered giving someone like you a chance!"

"And I'm supposed to care? I'm pretty ticked off myself that I had to waste my morning showing you around! Like I wanted to spend my day with a snotty princess like you!" The prince snapped back.

"How do you know if I'm a snotty princess? You haven't even given me a chance!"

Syaoran smirked. "I don't have to, you're all alike. Doesn't matter what kingdom you come from, even if it's a weak one like yours."

Sakura glared at Syaoran as she walked towards him. Then she raised her hand and slapped him across the face. His eyes widened in shock as he put his hand to his slightly reddened cheek.

"You are the coldest person I've ever met! I wish I'd never come here to meet you! Good-bye!"

Sakura brushed right by him and started to briskly walk towards the castle. Syaoran snapped out of his stupor and yelled after her. "Hey, where are you going!"

Sakura did not stop to answer him. "To find my family and leave!"

"You don't even know where to look in the castle for them!"

"As if you care!" She cried over her shoulder.

Syaoran shouted at her retreating back, "Fine then, go ahead and leave!"

"I can't wait to go!"

Fujitaka, Nadeshiko, and Yelan were all very disappointed that it didn't work out between their children. But, Sakura's parents got over it quickly because shortly after the fiasco with the prince of the Li kingdom, Sakura met Prince Eriol of the Hiiragizawa kingdom to the west. Both of Eriol's parents had passed away, so he was already ruling his kingdom. Though he was the ruler, the people still called him prince because he was so young, and unmarried. Eriol and Sakura hit it off rather well. He was nothing like Syaoran. He was nice and sweet as well as handsome not that Syaoran wasn't good looking. In fact when Sakura first saw him she thought his appearance was rather appealing. But his personality made him ugly in her eyes. Plus Eriol treated Sakura with respect where as Syaoran was nothing but rude. Though Sakura didn't exactly love the Hiragizawa prince, she knew how much her parents wanted her to marry, and she felt that in time, she could learn to love him. So when he asked her to marry him a couple of months after they met she agreed. Sakura's parents were thrilled and decided to hold a grand ball to celebrate. Invitations were sent out to all the neighboring kingdoms inviting them to attend. Yelan received their invitation one morning while the Li family was eating breakfast.

"Oh my . . ."

"What is it, Mother?" Fanran asked.

"It seems that we have been invited to a ball the Kinomoto kingdom is holding in honor of their princess's engagement!"

Shefia looked up from her plate of food. "Princess Sakura is getting married?"

Her mother continued to look over the invitation as she replied. "Apparently . . ."

Meilin finished chewing the bit of food in her mouth before asking, "To whom?"

"To Prince Eriol of the Hiiragizawa kingdom."

"Oh she's sooooo lucky! He's a really sweet guy, and cute too!" Fuutie squealed.

Feimei nodded her head in agreement with her sister. "Yes he is. A fine catch!"

Syaoran scowled. Meilin was sitting next to him at the table and noticed.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked as she poked him in the forearm.

"I can't stand that guy! He's such a know-it-all, has an answer for everything. I can't believe she's actually going to marry him . . ." he trailed off, picking at his food with his fork.

Meilin smirked. "Jealous?"

"No way!"

Ignoring her younger brother's sudden out burst Fuutie asked, "So, are we going to go, Mother?"

Yelan smiled as she closed the invitation and set it on the table. "But of course! After all we were invited. It would be rude not to show."

Fanran's face lit up. "Yay! I just love parties!"

"I can't wait!" Shefia stated.

Feimei clapped her hands in excitement. "Yes, this is very exciting!"

"I'm sure we will have a great time!" Fuutie said to her three sisters.

Meilin poked her cousin again clearly irritating him. "It has been a long time since we've been to a formal party, isn't this great, Syaoran?"

"Wonderful . . ." Syaoran replied his voiced laced with sarcasm.

XXXXXX

The day of the ball came quickly and before she knew it, Sakura was in the great hall talking with her friend Princess Tomoyo of the Daidouji kingdom to the north. Her brother was on the other side of the room talking with his friend Prince Yukito of the Tsukishiro kingdom to the south.

"Oh, Sakura! I can't believe you're getting married! And to Prince Eriol no less! You are so lucky! Not only is he super nice, but he's cute to boot!" Tomoyo exclaimed, stars in her eyes.

Sakura stood their sweat dropping at Tomoyo's enthusiasm. "T-Tomoyo . . ."

Just then the Li family arrived in the grand hall where the ball was taking place. The four sisters looked around in awe at the pretty room.

"Wow, they've got a really nice castle," Fanran said in awe.

Sheifa added, "Yeah, it's so warm and friendly . . ."

Meilin spotted Sakura and ran over to her. "Princess Sakura! It's so good to see you again! Even though things didn't exactly work out between you and my cousin I hope we can still be friends . . ."

Sakura smiled at the raven haired girl. "Of course we can! But please call me Sakura I hate formalities."

"All right then."

Sakura gestured at the girl with long, flowing purple hair. "Meilin, this is my friend Princess Tomoyo of the Daidouji kingdom. Her kingdom is located to the north of mine."

Meilin looked at the other princess and bowed. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Meilin from the Li kingdom. I'm the Queen's niece."

Tomoyo returned both her bow and smile. "It's nice to meet you too. You may call me Tomoyo. I hate formalities as well."

"All right, Tomoyo."

The orchestra started playing and the girls went to go dance. Syaoran parked himself in a corner defensively and glared at ever girl that started to approach him, causing them to stay away, which is just what he wanted. Soon after the music started, Eriol arrived. While looking for Sakura, he spotted Syaoran and walked over to greet him.

"Why good evening, Prince Syaoran. How have you been?"

Syaoran looked up and to his left when he heard that voice and returned Eriol's shining smile with a scowl. "None of your business."

Eriol frowned. "Well excuse me. I was just trying to be polite."

Syaoran's scowl turned into a glared. "What do you want?"

"Just to talk. After all, it's been, what, six years since we've seen each other?"

"So? The longer the better." Syaoran looked away so Eriol watched the crowd of people in the middle of the room dancing.

"So I heard that at one point this ball could have been thrown for you and Princess Sakura."

Syaoran didn't look at Eriol as he replied. "That's really none of your business either. But, for the record, I'm glad this ball's not for us because I want nothing to do with her. I don't like her, and speaking of not liking people, I don't like you either, so get lost."

Eriol shook his head. "Still the same old cold-hearted prince you were six years ago."

"And you're still the annoying pest that doesn't know how to take a hint."

Eriol shrugged his shoulders. "Very well, I must go find my fiancée anyway. Good-bye, Prince Syaoran."

Eriol walked away from the amber eyed boy and started dancing with his future bride once he found her. Tomoyo and Meilin found some dance partners as well. Once the ball was getting ready to end, Eriol pulled Sakura aside and to the front of the room. The band stopped playing while he got the attention of the crowd.

"Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention please?"

The room got quite and Eriol continued.

"Thank-you. The ball is coming to an end, so I'd like to take this time to thank everyone who came. As you know, this ball was to celebrate the engagement between Princess Sakura and myself. And in one month exact we will be married."

The crowed started to clap as Eriol kissed Sakura. Meilin and Tomoyo smiled, happy for their friend, while Syaoran just leaned against the wall anxious to go. Suddenly, the big doors to the great hall flew open to reveal a large group of men that could easily pass for thieves. Eriol and Sakura were startled out of their kiss and looked at the men in the doorway.

"Well, well, well, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," the man said, a facetious under tone in his deep voice.

He looked around. He was tall with long black hair and gray eyes. He also had some stubble on his chin and his clothes were a bit tattered. Despite his hobo-like appearance he looked like a man to be reckoned with.

"Don't tell me the ball is ending? I just got here."

Fujitaka, Nadeshiko, and Toya walked over to stand by Eriol and Sakura. Syaoran's family walked over to the corner he was in along with Tomoyo and her mother, Queen Sonomi.

"Who are you?" her father questioned.

Nadeshiko added, "And what do you want?"

The black haired man rubbed the stubble on his chin as he said, "Get straight to the point, don't you your Highness? Very well, I'll make this quick then. My name's Tojo, Tojo Yamada, and I am here for your daughter."

Eriol put his arm around Sakura and eyed the uninvited guest suspiciously.

"What do you want with me?" the Kinomoto princess asked.

He looked her up and down making her thoroughly uncomfortable. "Ah, so you're the lovely Princess Sakura. The rumors about your beauty are true."

Eriol glared daggers at Tojo. "Excuse me but I'd sincerely appreciate it if you'd stop talking to my fiancée and leave, now."

"I can't do that. You see, I have an agenda of my own to keep, and it involves you Princess Sakura."

"Why? What's so special about me!" she demanded to know.

Tojo looked somewhat surprised by her statement. "Y . . . you mean you really don't know? Well, fancy that. It seems that your parents have kept quite a secret from you."

"And what secret would that be?" Sakura asked, irritation seeping into her voice.

Tojo grinned evilly. "That you are the key to conquering this entire world. You . . . and that crystal shard you wear around your neck."

Sakura subconsciously clutched the shard in her hand. "What are you talking about?"

"The crystal of power," he said, licking his lips, a raw hunger for power burning in his sharp eyes.

"Huh?" Sakura blinked, a confused look gracing her features.

"I want the crystal of power and I need you to get it," he bluntly stated.

Sakura turned to her parents for confirmation. "Mother, Father?"

"We're sorry, dear, but he speaks the truth . . ." Fujitaka replied, a grim look on his distinguished face.

"Why didn't you ever tell me anything about this!" Sakura shouted, more upset about being kept in the dark than anything else.

"We didn't want you to worry or be frightened," Nadeshiko stated.

"I think that's enough talking for one evening." Tojo snapped his fingers and his men rushed in. The knights from the Kinomoto kingdom charged forward and started facing off with Tojo's soldiers. Nadeshiko turned to her first born.

"Toya, get her out of here!"

Toya grabbed Sakura's wrist and started to run towards the back doorway that led out of the great hall. Sakura looked back at her parents who both nodded their heads at her. She looked at Eriol who mouthed 'be strong'. That was all she saw before Toya dragged her around the corner. Back in the ballroom, Syoaran was fighting Tojo's guards to protect his mother, sisters, and Meilin, who was helping him fight off the intruders. After Syaoran knocked another one of Tojo's soldier's unconscious, Yelan ran over to him.

"Syaoran, you must go with Princess Sakura!" she frantically ordered.

Syaoran stared at his mother in disbelief. "What! No way, I will not abandon my family!"

"You must! Sakura has a difficult journey ahead of her and she will need help!"

Syaoran knocked down another guard. "So? Let someone else help her!"

"Syaoran, my son, if you will not do it out of the goodness of your heart, then do it for the future of the Li kingdom!" she pleaded.

"What do you mean?"

The queen put a hand on his shoulder. "If Sakura fails then not only will the Kinomoto kingdom suffer, but so will the Li kingdom. Every kingdom will. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."

The young prince looked hard at his mother and realized she was dead serious. He sighed in defeat. "I'll be back, Mother, I promise."

Syaoran turned to go, but Meilin called out to him. "Syaoran!"

He turned back to his cousin. She flashed him a quick smile, eye's full of faith in him.

"Good luck."

Syaoran nodded his head before turning away and running towards the same hallway he saw the Kinomoto siblings retreat down. Toya had pulled Sakura into the knight's training room. He grabbed a leather backpack then pushed a brick that made a hidden door open. After it opened, he handed Sakura the bag.

"Here," he said as he handed her the pack.

Sakura took it and looked the brown leather sack over. "What's this?"

"It's a pack that the knights take with them on journeys. It's got a female knight's uniform, a short sword, food, a sleeping bag, matches, and some other things you'll need for a long trip."

Sakura put the bag on her back then Toya dropped a small sack of gold in it. "That's some money to help you along the way."

Sakura stared at her big brother, her feelings of anxiety apparent from the look on her face. "What about you?"

He took a deep breath before say, "I'm going to stay here with Mom and Dad."

"No!" Sakura cried. "Toya, I can't do this alone . . . and I don't want anything to happen to you either."

Toya put his hands on her shoulders. "Sakura listen to me, you can do this I know you can. You were born to do this, it's your destiny. I believe in you. Find the crystal of power and destroy it before Tojo can get his greedy hands on it and ruin all of our lives."

Sakura looked up at him, determination burning in her eyes. "Don't worry, I won't let you down, Toya. I promise."

He hugged his little sister. "I know you won't, Squirt."

Sakura let go of Toya. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me-"

Sakura's sentence was cut off as Toya pushed her into the secret passageway, which was basically a big, stone slide to the outside. As she zoomed towards the exit she finished her sentence, the door to the secret passage closing behind her.

"Squiiiiiiirt!"

"We're counting on you . . . little sister," Toya whispered to himself.

Right after Sakura went down the slide, Syaoran came busting into the room, startling Toya.

"Jeeze, give me a heart attack why don't you!" he said inhaling sharply.

Syaoran didn't even apologize. "Where's your sister?"

Toya ignored his question and asked instead, "How'd you even know we were here?"

"I followed her aura," Syaoran replied as if it should have been obvious.

The older prince whistled. "Impressive."

"Look, just tell me where your sister is! My mother says I have to go with her and help her with her quest."

"It figures you'll only help because your mother's making you," Toya grumbled.

"Just be happy I'm going to help at all," Syaoran said coolly.

"Yeah well, I know the rumors about you being a self-centered jerk are true and all, but do me a favor and look out for my little sister," the older Kinomoto sibling requested.

Toya heard some of Tojo's soldiers coming so he hit the brick to make the hidden door open again, then he grabbed another pack.

"I'm going so I can destroy the crystal of power, not baby-sit your sister!"

Toya wasn't even paying attention to Syaoran. He thrust the pack into the younger prince's arms and shoved him into the secret passage, then shut the door and ran before Tojo's guards could find him or the door. Syaoran slid down the giant slide and hit the ground outside. He stood up and rubbed his rear.

"Damn, that hurt . . ."

Suddenly he heard a high pitched scream from around the corner followed by, "Let me go!"

He got up and put the backpack on, then ran around the corner to see one of Tojo's soldiers pulling the princess, his hand tightly clasped around her upper arm as she struggled to break free. There were three of them total. Apparently they had waited outside. Syaoran ran out from behind the corner.

"Hey! Let her go!" he called out.

The three guards and Sakura turned around to see Syaoran standing there in a fighting stance.

"Prince Syaoran!" Sakura cried, clearly surprised to see him out there but relieved all the same.

Two of the guards charged at Syaoran and he easily took them out. While the guard holding onto Sakura was distracted, she elbowed him in the stomach and turned around to kick him in the groin. Syaoran saw the guard grab his crotch and fall over.

_That had to hurt . . . _he winced.

Remembering that they had to get as far away as possible, Syaoran grabbed Sakura's wrist and started running towards the forest that surrounded the Kinomoto kingdom so they'd have some coverage.

"Come on! We have to get out of here now!" he exclaimed.

"Wait! What are you doing out here?"

Syaoran explained as they ran. "My mother ordered me to help you find the crystal of power and destroy it."

The two teenagers ran a good distance into the forest until they had to stop to catch their breath. They found a hollowed out tree and ran inside. Syaoran put his hands on his knees hunched over while Sakura leaned against the side of the tree panting slightly.

"Um . . . thank you for your help. I know we haven't exactly been on great terms with each other, but I'm still glad you're going to help me," she said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Heh, don't flatter yourself. Like I told your brother, I'm here to destroy the crystal of power, not watch your back. Our relationship is over the moment we destroy that crystal," Syaoran stated, not sparing her a glance.

Sakura glared at him. "That's fine with me! I have one month to find that crystal and destroy it before my wedding with Prince Eriol and nothing is going to make me miss it! Not even that stupid crystal of power!"

Sakura stormed out of the hollow tree and started walking in, which she hoped, was the direction of the crystal. Syaoran wiped his brow and set out to follow her. Little did Sakura know, within in a month, many things could change, including her feelings . . .

_**End chapter 1.**_

**A/N**: Well what do you think? Good, bad let me know. Questions or comments are welcome and even constructive criticism, but if you want to flame me at least have the guts to leave your e-mail address so I can have a chance to defend or explain myself! Anyway, please review :)

_**SakuraJade**_


	2. Onward to the Village of Mead

**A/N:** So here's chapter 2. Syaoran isn't such a dick in this chapter lol Hope you enjoy it :)

Disclaimer: "I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, CLAMP does!"

" means spoken words

_italics_ means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N etc.

**Learning To Love**

_Chapter 2: Onward to the Village of Mead_

The sun was bright and shining down right on Syaoran's face. He opened his eyes and realized he was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the forest floor and had no idea why. It took a second for what happened last night to register in his brain. He rolled over and saw Sakura folding up her own sleeping bag. She saw Syaoran staring at her and smiled.

"Good morning Prince Syaoran."

" . . . . . ." he stared at her coolly not ushering a sound.

Since he didn't respond, Sakura frowned. "Look, I think we got off to a bad start, so let's start over. Maybe we can even be friends."

Syaoran got out of his sleeping bag and casually said, "Whatever. All I care about is finding the crystal of power. As soon as we destroy that stupid problem causing crystal I'm through with you. I don't care what happens to you, your family, or your kingdom for that matter. All I care about is me, my family, and my kingdom. So save your so-called friendship for someone who cares."

Sakura's eyes started to water.

Syaoran raised an eyebrow, his lips curling into a small smirk. "What? Now you're going to cry because you can't have your way? You're even weaker then I thought."

Sakura wiped her eyes. "No. I'm not crying because I can't have my way, I'm crying because you're such a selfish excuse for a person you must live a really lonely life. You may not want my friendship, but you've got my pity."

His eyebrows knit together. "I don't want your pity either."

Sakura stared at him solemnly. "As long as you have an attitude like that you'll have my pity."

She finished rolling up her sleeping bag and stuck it in her backpack. Then she walked behind a group of bush so Syaoran couldn't see her.

"What are you doing?" he snorted.

"I'm changing out of this gown and into the knight's outfit in this bag. It'll be easier to travel in and it will be best if no one knows we're royalty. Some people might want to help us, but I'm sure there are people out there that will try to stop us if the price is right," she said from behind the bushes.

"You've got a point," he admitted.

As soon as Sakura was done changing, Syaoran changed as well. His outfit consisted of brown leather pants with brown leather boots, a red long sleeved shirt with a plate of sliver chest armor over it, brown leather gloves, and a white cape with the Kinomoto kingdom crest on it, which was a cherry blossom. Sakura had on a short, brown leather pleated skirt, brown leather boots that came up to her knees, and a long sleeved purple shirt with a plate of silver chest armor, brown leather gloves, and a white cape with the Kinomoto kingdom crest on the back as well. Her hair was up in the usual pigtail style, but with purple ribbons. Both their chest armor covered their shoulders as well. Sakura was fastening her sword to her belt when Syaoran came out from behind the bushes.

He pointed at the sword she was equipping and said, "Heh, why are you bothering to arm yourself? After all it's not like you know how to use a sword."

Sakura didn't bother to look at him. "For your information I do know the basics."

"No princess knows how to use a sword. Let alone a princess from a weak country like yours," he stated smugly.

Within seconds Sakura had Syaoran pinned to a nearby tree with her sword to his throat.

"I've been fencing since I was eight, so one could say I'm pretty skilled," she said coolly, a coy smile playing at her lips.

Syaoran's eyes were wide with surprise as Sakura took her sword away from his throat and returned it to its sheath. She turned around to start walking away.

"I've never met a princess that could fight . . ." he trailed off, his back still against the tree, slightly shocked at what just happened.

She glanced back at him. "Well now you have. As you're already well aware of, I'm not your average run-of-the-mill princess."

Sakura moved to pick up her pack and Syaoran did the same, then they started walking through the forest, not really heading in any particular direction.

"By the way, just where the heck is the crystal of power anyway?" he asked.

Sakura stopped walking, as did Syaoran.

"Actually . . . I have no idea . . ."

Syaoran face faulted then got back up and started yelling in Sakura's face.

"What do you mean you don't know?! You're the only one that can activate it!"

Sakura glared at him. "In case you forgot all this crystal of power crap was just dumped on me last night! How should I know where to start looking!?" she shot back exasperatedly.

"Look, you just should okay?!" he snapped in return.

The princess rolled her eyes. "Oh that makes a lot of sense! I don't see you trying to-"

Sakura gasped and grabbed her crystal necklace. Syaoran stopped fuming at her and looked on with curiosity.

"What? What is it?"

"My necklace . . ." she answered.

"What about it?" he pressed.

"It's the key. It's the key to everything . . ."

Syaoran raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

She turned to him and said, "Tojo said that I was the key, me, and the crystal shard I wear around my neck."

Syaoran shrugged his shoulders. "So?"

"So, I bet we can use it to find the crystal. After all, it is the key to activating it, so it can probably lead us to it too."

Syaoran thought about her idea then said, "Might as well try it. It's not like we have anything better to do."

Sakura made a face at Syaoran as she took her necklace off from around her neck. She held the chain in between her thumb and index finger, letting the crystal dangle. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Oh crystal key, please lead us to the crystal of power."

Sakura's body glowed pink with her aura, then, without warning she opened her eyes and her necklace swung out to the left (**A/N:** Think Hitomi from Escaflowne if you've seen it, and if you haven't you should, great anime). Sakura held the necklace up and directed a smile at it.

"Thank you . . ."

She put her necklace back on and started to walk towards the left. Syaoran watched in awe.

_Wow . . . her aura, was so bright . . . and warm . . . _

Sakura turned back around and looked at Syaoran. "Well? Are you coming or not?"

Syaoran shook his head to clear it then ran to catch up with her.

XXXXXX

Back at the Kinomoto castle, Tojo was pacing back and forth in the great hall. Fujitaka, Nadeshiko, Toya, Yukito, Tomoyo and her mother, Syaoran's family, and Eriol were all sitting at the grand table. The rest of the guests had been released. After all they weren't necessary. Nobody would try to rise up against him when he had the royalty of five kingdoms hostage. One of Tojo's soldiers was standing by watching him pace back and forth.

"Sir, what do you plan to do? The princess and that prince are already trying to find the crystal and destroy it," the guard reminded him.

Tojo whipped around startling the soldier so much that he fell over trying to back up.

"I know that! I'm not stupid you idiot!"

The guard bowed low. "Please forgive me General."

Tojo grabbed the guy by the collar and pulled him close, noses almost touching. "Where are they?!" he demanded.

"The soldiers t-tracking them aren't exactly sure at the m-moment, b-but they're pretty sure that they're almost to the town of M-Mead," the guard stuttered.

Tojo thrust the man out of his face. "All right, keep the men on stand by for my order to attack. We want to catch them off guard."

"Yes sir!"

Tomoyo leaned over to Meilin. "I hope Sakura and Prince Syaoran are all right."

"Don't worry about it Tomoyo! I'm sure they're fine."

"Lady Meilin is right. It won't do you any good to worry about it," Eriol chimed in.

XXXXXX

Sakura sighed.

"Now what?" Syaoran asked the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I'm worried about my family . . . and yours. Not to mention Tomoyo, Yukito, and Eriol . . ."

"Don't worry about them, especially that Eriol guy . . ."

Sakura blinked. "And just why shouldn't I worry about him?"

"Because he's an annoying, smug, know-it-all jerk who thinks he's all that. I can't stand him," Syaoran said with a scowl on his face.

"H-hey! That happens to be my fiancé and future husband you're talking about!" Sakura growled at him.

"It's not my fault your fiancé's a jerk. Besides, I would have thought you had better taste than that," Syaoran said blatantly.

"Eriol is NOT a jerk! He's kind and sweet and really cute! And he's a much better person than you are!" she claimed.

"Hey! I'm the one traveling on this journey with you! So how can you say I'm not a good person!?"

"That's easy!" Sakura said as if it should be obvious, "For one thing, you only came because your mother told you too! And second, the way you treated me when I came to visit your castle! You may be cute Prince Syaoran, but your attitude and personality make you ugly! If anyone's a jerk it's you!"

Sakura stomped onward followed by a bewildered Syaoran.

"You know I've never had anyone stand up to me like you do, especially a girl . . ." he stated simply.

"Yeah well get used to it. I'm not going to treat you with respect if you don't treat me with respect," she replied, not sparing him a glance as she continued to walk.

". . . I'll try."

Sakura stopped abruptly. She turned and stared at the prince. "What?"

Syaoran sighed. "I said I'll try . . . to respect you I mean. Look, we're never going to accomplish what we've set out to do if we don't put our differences aside and try to work together."

Sakura took a deep breath and turned to face him. "I agree. I'm glad that you finally want to work as a team. Everybody is counting on us. There's no way we can let them down."

Sakura started walking again, but turned back around to face Syaoran once more. "Prince Syaoran, have you ever had a real friend?"

Syaoran didn't answer so she continued, "You know, they say that silence after a question is basically the same as saying yes."

"Well, there is Meilin, but I only put up with her because she's my cousin and she lives with me . . ." he mumbled.

Sakura giggled. "Well, I'd like to be your friend . . . if you'd let me that is . . . "

Once again Syaoran didn't answer. Sakura grinned. "Silence again huh? I'll take it your answer is yes then."

She put out her hand. Syaoran stared at her out stretched hand then took it. As soon as he did he felt a strong yet warm and gentle feeling flow through him that ended the moment Sakura let go.

"I guess you're not such a bad person after all. It looks like there's hope for you yet."

Syaoran gave the faintest glimmer of a smile causing Sakura's to widen. "That's a good look for you. You should smile more often."

Sakura turned back around to continue walking forward, missing the small blush that covered Syaoran's checks. He quickly shook his head to rid himself of the blush.

_What's going on? Why do I feel so weird . . ._

Syaoran ran to catch up to the princess. Unbeknown to the both of them, Tojo's soldiers had caught up with them. In a small room in the Kinomoto castle, Tojo was talking with one of the guards trailing Sakura and Syaoran by way of magic. There was a portal that stood in front of Tojo and one that stood in front of his guard so they could see each other.

"Sir, we've caught up to them, they're right outside the town of Mead. We think they are planning on spending the night there," the guard informed Tojo.

Tojo drummed his hands on the arm rest of his chair. "Damn, we don't want to create a scene."

"What should we do sir?" the guard asked wanting further instructions.

"Stay on standby. As soon as they leave that town attack the first chance you get," he ordered.

"Yes sir."

XXXXXX

As it started to get darker outside, Sakura and Syaoran found themselves on a hill over looking the small valley village of Mead. Sakura smiled in delight at all the little, lit up cottages.

"How cute," she pointed at the village below, "Prince Syaoran lets go into that town and spend the night at the inn."

Syaoran looked at it with suspicious eyes. "I don't know, we should really keep going . . ."

"But the sun is starting to set so we can't travel that much further anyway and I'd much rather sleep in an actual bed then on the ground . . ."

Syaoran looked at Sakura's pleading eyes and sighed in defeat. "Fine . . ."

Sakura jumped up and cheered. "Thanks Prince Syaoran!"

She grabbed his hand and started to run down the hill towards the village.

"Come on, let's go!"

_Why couldn't I be strong and just say no? What's happening to me? _ Syaoran thought to himself.

Sakura pulled him all the way down the hill to the front gates of the small village. There was a guard standing watch. Sakura approached the guard.

"Excuse me sir."

He looked at her and smiled. "Yes, how may I help you miss?"

Getting a friendly vibe from him she returned his smile. "I was wondering, what town is this?"

"Why, this is the town of Mead," he stated.

"I see. Is it all right if my friend Pri-I mean Syaoran and I enter? We'd like to stay at the inn for the night."

The guard took in their outfits for the first time. "Ah, you two are knights from the Kinomoto kingdom aren't you?!" he asked excitedly.

Syaoran made a face. "I am NOT from the Kino-"

Sakura quickly covered his mouth and laughed sheepishly while the guard stared at them in puzzlement.

"You'll have to excuse my friend he tripped on the way here and hit his head on a rock. Since then he's been talking strange."

Syaoran glared at Sakura but she ignored him and continued, "Yes we're knights from the Kinomoto kingdom. We are on a training trip."

"Well, you're more than welcome in our town."

Syaoran removed Sakura's hand from his mouth. "We are?"

The guard nodded his head. "Oh yes. The people of this village are very fond of people from the Kinomoto kingdom because they're all so very nice."

Syaoran mumbled. "And weak . . . "

Sakura glared and kicked him in the shin. Then she started to push a grumbling Syaoran through the gates. "Thank you!"

Once on the other side, Sakura turned to the ever rude prince.

"What's wrong with you?! You want to blow are cover?!"

Syaoran rounded on her. "What about you?! You almost called me prince! How would that have looked?!"

Sakura put her hand behind her head. "Yeah, sorry about having to call you by your first name without your royal title, but I didn't really have a choice with that guard there . . ."

Syaoran sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, he kind of liked the sound of his name when Sakura said it without using formalities.

"Come on, we'd better go find the inn," she said as she started to walk but Syaoran grabbed her hand. As soon as he did he could feel her warm pink aura surround him again.

"Wait," he said simply.

She stopped and turned around to look at him, a quizzical look on her face. She looked down at their joined hands. Syaoran followed her gaze and saw their hands together. He quickly dropped her hand as a blush started to creep across his cheeks.

She looked back up at him and asked, "What is it?"

"Um . . . uh . . . " he stammered.

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "Are you okay?"

"I-I just uh . . . wanted to say you should probably call me Syaoran, just plain Syaoran. That way we'll be able to keep our cover a little better."

"You're right. Though I told you the first day we met that you could call me Sakura."

"All right . . . Sakura . . ." he said faintly.

She smiled and turned back around to head further into the town.

"Then let's go find that town inn!"

Syaoran walked after her and within five minutes they came across the only inn the town had. They walked up to the innkeeper's desk. A man about sixty was sitting there.

"Um pardon me," Sakura said trying to get the elderly man's attention.

The innkeeper looked up and smiled. "Ah, customers, and you're both knights from the Kinomoto kingdom."

Syaoran opened his mouth, but Sakura gave him a look that made him shut it before saying anything.

The Innkeeper went on, "It has been a while since we had knights from the Kinomoto kingdom, let alone a girl knight and such a pretty one at that."

Sakura blushed in embarrassment. "Oh, um, thank you . . ."

Syaoran spoke up a little irritated at the pointless conversation. "Look can we just have two rooms?"

"One room," he stated simply, "Besides two young lovers like yourselves should stay in the same room anyway."

Sakura and Syaoran blushed, their faces taking on a deep crimson.

"B-but we're not a couple," she admitted shyly.

"Well you are now. This is a small inn and we only got one room left."

The two royal teens looked at each other. Sakura got out her money and paid as Syaoran took the key. They walked to the second floor in silence. When Syaoran opened the door they both sighed in relief because there were two twin beds meaning they didn't have to share one. Sakura took off her backpack and plopped down on one of them.

"I'm beat," she whined.

"Me too. I'm going to go take a bath."

Sakura sat up. "Okay, I'll take one in a little bit."

Syaoran left to go take his bath. Sakura laid back down then got back up as she realized something.

_Sayoran and I don't even have pajamas and I don't want to sleep in these clothes.  
_  
She got up and got her money out of her backpack. Then she proceeded down the stairs.

When the Innkeeper saw her he asked, "Where you off too miss?"

"I'm going for a walk."

Sakura went around town until she found a clothing store. She bought both herself and Syaoran a pair of long sleeved, pants pajamas. Sakura was passing an alleyway when she saw a girl her age being pushed around by three big guys.

"Please don't hurt me!" the girl begged.

"We don't wanna hurt you we just wanna have a little fun that's all!"

Sakura couldn't just leave that poor girl there, so she spoke up. "Hey, leave that girl alone!"

She ran into the alley and rammed into one of the guys knocking him into one of the two holding the frightened girl. Sakura then kicked the last guy in the stomach causing him to release his hold on their victim. Sakura turned to the girl.

"Go, now!"

"Thank you miss, thank you!"

Sakura watched the girl run away and sighed in relief once she was out of sight. Without warning, one of the guys on the ground grabbed Sakura's ankle and pulled her to the ground causing her to drop her bag. Then he pinned her down. Sakura struggled but it was no use.

_I can't reach my sword!_

"You little bitch! You've just ruined our fun with that girl! So I guess we'll just have to have our fun with you instead!"

XXXXXX

Syaoran walked out of the bathroom toweling off his messy brown hair.

"Hey, what do you want for dinner?" he unknowingly asked nobody.

When he didn't get a response he looked around the room but didn't see Sakura anywhere.

"Uh, Sakura?"

Syaoran went down to the main desk.

"Hey, you haven't seen the girl I came here with have you?" he asked the Innkeeper.

"Well as a matter of fact I have," he replied, the ever friendly smile still on his face."When?"

"She said she was going for a walk about thirty minutes ago. But uh, the town of Mead is generally a safe place, but even a nice town like this has its hoodlums and now's about the time they come out. And young girls are the perfect target for them, especially ones as nice and pretty as your friend, if you know what I mean," the elderly man hinted.

Syaoran started running for the door slightly worried. "Yeah I do, thanks!"

XXXXXX

"Get off of me!" Sakura yelled.

"Not until I've had some fun first!" came the thugs reply, his eyes full of lust.

Syaoran was running through the town looking for Sakura, his worry increasing with every step he took. Suddenly he heard a girl screaming for someone to let her go. He wasn't sure if it was Sakura, but he thought he should check it out regardless. He ran to the alley where he heard the scream and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a man holding Sakura down tugging at her shirt. He felt rage welling inside of him as he watched the man try to force himself on Sakura.

"Let her go now!" he cried out.

The other two men got up and stood in his way.

"Hey, we got this chick!" one of the thugs shouted.

"Yeah, if you wanna turn with her you'll have to get in line!"

"You guys are sick! I'm not going to let you touch her!" Syaoran yelled sizing up the hoodlums. They charged at him and he easily took the two guys out. The man on top of Sakura got off of her.

"Why you little punk! Who the hell do you think you are!?"

"I'd tell you my name but it'd be a waste of my time. So I'll just knock you out instead!"

Syoaran punched the guy in the stomach then in the face, staying true to his words. He dusted his hands off as he surveyed his handy work. Then he turned around and saw Sakura on her hands and knees breathing hard while she started at the ground. Syaoran walked over to her and kneeled down.

"Sakura, are you all right?"

She didn't move. Syaoran put his hand on her shoulder and she immediately freaked out and started struggling, surprising Syaoran.

"No let me go! Get away from me!"

Syaoran tightened his grip. "Sakura wait, it's okay! It's me Syaoran!"

She stopped immediately and looked up. "Sya-Syaoran?"

He nodded his head. Sakura's eyes started to water as she threw her arms around his neck and cried on his shoulder, her body still shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush she'd experienced moments before. Syaoran was shocked by her actions.

"I was so scared!"

Syaoran felt very awkward. He'd never been close with anyone before, let alone a girl. And he'd never been in this kind of situation before either. But a small feeling told him what to do, and as if on instinct, Syaoran found himself wrapping his arms around her small frame in return.

"It's okay, you're safe now, don't cry," he said trying to calm her.

He was getting quite comfortable when Sakura pulled away to look at him, which made Syaoran somewhat disappointed.

"I'm sorry Pri-I mean Syaoran for falling apart like that. Thank you for saving me."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, are you okay?"

Sakura sniffled and got up with Syaoran's help. "Yeah, thanks to you."

Syaoran started to feel his face getting hot. "S-so what are you doing out here by yourself anyway?"

Sakura saw her bag on the ground nearby and picked it up. "I realized that neither of us had any pajamas so I decided to go out and buy some."

_All that for a pair of pajamas . . . _Syaoran thought.

Sakura pulled Syaoran's pair out of the bag. "I bought you a green pair. I hope you don't mind green."

Syaoran smiled. "Actually green's my favorite color."

Sakura looked relieved. "Oh good."

"Come on we should get back to the inn," Syaoran suggested.

Sakura agreed and the pair walked back to the inn for dinner and a well-deserved rest leaving the thugs unconscious in the alley where they belonged.

_**End chapter 2.**_

**A/N:** That's it for chapter 2, hope everyone liked it. I'm sorry if it seemed a little rushed, but I just can't keep Syaoran mean to Sakura for long, waff is so much more enjoyable, don't you agree:) See you in the next chapter!

_SakuraJade_


	3. A Giant Scorpion and a Posioned Princess

**A/N:** So here's chapter three, go crazy lol

"means spoken words

_italics_ means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N, etc.

** Learning To Love  
**_  
Chapter 3: A Giant Scorpion leads to a Poisoned Princess_

Sakura was walking along quietly behind Syaoran. They left the village of Mead a few minutes earlier and were once again on their way to find the crystal of power. Sakura was thinking about what had happened to her last night. Being in trouble like that, she had never expected Syaoran to show up and save her. Well, maybe he would save her, but she definitely didn't think he'd goes as far as to hug her and comfort her. Syaoran stopped but because of her lack of attention, Sakura bumped right into him.

"Oh, sorry," she said while rubbing her nose.

Syaoran started looking around.

Sakura felt herself growing apprehensive from the look on his face. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Someone's watching us," he said.

Sakura immediately started looking around frantically. "What?! How do you know?!"

"It's just a feeling . . ."

A "shit they know we're following them" from behind a nearby set of bushes confirmed Syaoran's suspicions.

He turned to Sakura as he said, "Run! Now!"

They started running, but all of a sudden Sakura jerked to a halt, letting out a cry of surprise. She turned her head to look behind her and saw an arrow pinning her cape to the ground. Syaoran turned around when he heard Sakura scream out. He noticed that she had stopped running and ran back to her.

"What are you doing?! We have to get out of here!" he yelled anxiously.

Sakura pointed at the arrow. "I can't I'm stuck!"

Syaoran helped her pull the arrow out of her cape. Then he grabbed her hand to run, but when he turned around he came face to face with Tojo's Lieutenant in command. Sakura shouted in surprise at the man's sudden appearance.

"And where do you think you two are going?" the man asked, a coy smile playing at his lips like a cat that just caught some mice.

Syaoran backed up a little keeping Sakura behind him protectively. "Who the hell are you?! And what do you want?!"

"I'm General Tojo's Lieutenant. Shiro Morisaka's the name, and we've come for Princess Sakura of course," he explained nonchalantly.

Sakura looked over Syaoran's shoulder at him. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Shiro wagged his finger at her. "Now that's where you're wrong. Besides, it's not very appropriate for royalty to be gallivanting around out here posing as knights anyway. So why don't you just move out of the way and let us deal with our precious little Princess."

"Go to hell!" Syaoran spat defiantly.

Shiro's eyebrows knit together in irritation. "You sure got a big mouth on you kid. You'd better shut it or we'll shut it for you!"

Syaoran glared at Shiro as he continued, "Besides, it's not like she's of any use to you. Her sole purpose in life is to activate and generate the crystal of power. That's the only real reason she was born."

Syaoran heard Sakura gasp behind him and he knew Shiro was upsetting her, which really made him mad. "Shut up!" he ordered.

But Shiro pressed on, clearly enjoying the rise he was getting out of the two with his words. "Why do you care what happens to her? Last I heard you were just the cold-hearted, selfish prince of the Li kingdom that cared about nothing and nobody but yourself."

Syaoran growled under his breath as he backed up a bit more, his arms slightly out at his sides in an effort to shield Sakura from her would be abductors.

Shiro rubbed his chin in thought then said, "I know . . . this is about your kingdom isn't it? What if we make a deal with you? If you hand over the girl then I promise that when General Tojo takes over he'll leave the Li kingdom alone, how about that?"

"How about this!" Syaoran sprang forward and tackled Shiro to the ground, then he immediately got up, grabbed the hand of the still dazed Sakura, and started running. Shiro got off the ground and shouted at the three other guards that were with him.

"Don't just stand there you morons! Go after them!" he bellowed.

"Yes sir!"

They chased after the royal pair. Syaoran ran, dragging the princess along behind him, looking for a place to hide. Sakura was still thinking about what Shiro had said.

_That's all I was born to do? Activating that stupid crystal of power is my only real purpose in life?_

Sakura was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as she felt herself falling. Apparently Syaoran had tripped over a rock while running and started to fall forward, pulling her down with him. Together they tumbled down a nearby hill. They finally stopped in a valley of tall, over grown grass. Sakura landed on her back with Syaoran lying on top of her. He lifted his head up to come nose to nose with hers. Their cheeks were flushed from running, but more so from the sudden intimate contact of their bodies. Syaoran started to move to get off of her.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't mean-" Syaoran stopped short when he heard Shiro shouting.

"They couldn't have gotten far! I want them found NOW!"

Syaoran looked at Sakura as he whispered, "Don't move."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement. If neither of them moved then the tall grass might hide them. Syaoran gazed shamelessly into Sakura's eyes as they listened to Tojo's guards walking around on top of the hill. He'd never noticed the sharp shade of emerald green they were and before he could stop himself from saying anything, he complimented her.

"You . . . you have very pretty eyes . . ." he unintentionally said aloud.

Sakura's blush deepened under his scrutinizing stare. "T-thank you . . ." she mumbled.

Syaoran's eyes traveled down to her light pink lips as he realized they were only about an inch and a half away from his own.

_Her lips look so soft . . ._ He licked his own lips in response to his thoughts, but then he mentally slapped himself upside the head. _What the hell am I thinking?!_

His mind continued to run on its own however as it dawned on him that her hand ended up in his when he landed on her. _Her hand is so small mine practically covers it . . ._

He shook his head slightly to try and rid himself of the pleasant thoughts he was having about Sakura. _Where are all these thoughts coming from!? It's like someone else i__s__ talking or thinking or whatever! All I know is it's not me!_

What Syaoran didn't know was that it was him, but for once, instead of thinking with his head, he was thinking with his heart. They heard the guards getting farther and father away until they heard nothing but the sound of their breathing. Syaoran let go of Sakura's hand, rolled off of her, and stood up.

"I think they're gone," he said while peering around cautiously to make sure his assumption was true.

Sakura stood up. "That was close . . ."

"Tell me about it."

The two "knights" started walking in the opposite direction that Tojo's guards had gone. After traveling in silence for ten minutes, Syaoran glanced at Sakura and noticed she looked pre-occupied in her thoughts.

"Hey Sakura?"

She blinked and looked up to see him staring at her expectantly. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Syoaran shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well . . . you've been kind of quiet. I was just wondering if you were okay."

Sakura looked back down avoiding his obtrusive stare that seemed to peer into her soul when ever she made eye contact. "Yeah, I'm fine . . ."

"Oh come on. It's so obvious something is bothering you, so why won't you tell me?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Sakura sighed, she might as well tell him. "It's just . . . well . . . I was thinking about what that Shiro guy said . . . about how my only reason for existing is to activate that stupid crystal. And here we are on our way to destroy the one thing I was born for. And . . . once we do destroy it, what will happen to me? If the crystal is gone then I'll no longer have a purpose, so will I just cease to exist?"

Syaoran opened his mouth but nothing came out because he didn't know the answer to her questions.

"I guess I just never thought about how meaningless my existence really is . . ." she finished, her voice laced with sadness.

"Sakura your existence is not meaningless. No more meaningless then anybody else's anyway."

"Oh really? Name one good thing I've done." Sakura asked seriously.

"That's easy. Look at what you're doing right now. You're on this tough journey to try and stop Tojo from gaining control of all the people in the world!" Syaoran exclaimed.

Sakura countered, "So? You're doing it too."

He looked down so she wouldn't see the guilt in his eyes. "Yeah but I only came because my mother ordered me to. You were willing to go all alone."

"That's only because it was me they were after so it was my responsibility," she said meekly.

Syaoran looked her in the eye letting his emotional guard down slightly. "Okay then, me."

She blinked in confusion not sure what he meant by that. "What do you mean 'me'?"

"I mean you've changed me."

"I did?" she asked somewhat dumbfounded.

He let his guard down further by letting his arms fall to his sides. "Yeah . . . Sakura, before I met you I was a terrible person, but the only reason I know that now is because I've been traveling with you. I know the only reason I came on this journey was because my mother ordered me to, but now I'm really glad I did."

She raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "You are?"

"Well yeah. I mean I know we've only been traveling together for two days and all but . . . in just two days you've managed to not only make me see what a jerk I was, but you helped me change. You're the first person to stand up to me and not take any of my crap. You didn't quit on me either. And . . . you were right when you said my life must be miserable and lonely. It's been very lonely, but even I didn't realize it until I was forced onto this journey with you. So you see, to me your life has meaning," he finished his eyes shinning with the truthfulness of his words.

Having nothing else to say about it he started to walk forward again. Sakura smiled and walked next to him. "You really have changed."

Syaoran nodded his head. "I know. I hope you think it's for the better."

"Of course I do!" she replied beaming.

Silence descended upon the two but Sakura still had something she wanted to ask the prince. She mustered up the courage and broke the silence. "Um, Syaoran?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask you. Why didn't you accept Shiro's deal? After all, he said Tojo would spare your kingdom, and on the night Tojo ruined the ball you said that you were only coming so that you could save your kingdom . . ." she trailed off.

Syaoran wasn't exactly sure how to answer her question because he himself didn't quite know the answer. He no longer wanted to only stop Tojo from taking over the Li kingdom, but all the kingdoms. It made him feel good about himself for once to know that he was doing a good deed for so many people. It made him feel like a real hero. Plus, he now had a deep feeling in his heart that told him he had to protect Sakura at all costs, though he wasn't quite sure why. Of course, he wasn't going to tell her he now had an undying desire to keep her safe.

"I guess it's because I want to help all the kingdoms now, not just mine. I just can't be selfish like that anymore. Besides, according to our conversation yesterday, we're friends now. And although having friends is rather new to me, I do know you don't let your friends down. If I had handed you over to Shiro I think it's a pretty safe bet that I'd be letting you down," he finished with a small chuckle.

"Oh," Sakura replied plainly.

She couldn't help but feel just a little disappointed at Syaoran's answer, though she didn't know why. It wasn't a bad answer, she just wished there was something more behind it. They continued walking until they came to a cave. There was a sign outside the entrance. Sakura walked over to it and read it.

"This way to the village of Pandora, Guardia Forest, and the Lofty Mountains."

"Well, let's get going then," Syaoran said as he started to enter the cave.

Sakura lashed out and grabbed his arm firmly to stop him. "But we don't know what could be in there!"

"We'll be fine," he said and removed her hand from his toned bicep so he could continue on. "After all, we're knights from the Kinomoto kingdom, remember?" he joked.

Sakura gave him a look. "That's not funny. Besides you know we're not really knights Syaoran."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, use your necklace and see where it points. If it points to the cave then we go in, if it doesn't then we stay out."

Sakura stared at him evenly for a second then relented. "Okay fine."

She used her necklace and it swung out at the cave. Sakura held it up to her face and glared at it. "Traitor . . ."

"It's settled then. We go through the cave." Syaoran stated triumphantly as he started walking in.

Sakura whinned, "But Syaoran . . ."

Not looking back he disappeared into the penetrating blackness of the cave.

"Syaoran stop! Wait for me!" she cried in defeat as she scrambled after him.

They walked on in silence as they looked around. It was nothing special, just your average cave. When they were almost out, Syaoran turned to Sakura, who was lagging a few steps behind him.

"See Sakura? I told you we'd be fine."

Sakura was just about to admit that he had been right, when she saw a giant scorpion come up behind Syaoran. Her eyes widened in fear and astonishment. "Don't count on it . . ."

Syaoran looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "Huh?"

Sakura saw the giant scorpion raise its tail and start to bring it down towards Syaoran.

"Syaoran look out!" she yelled.

Just as the stinger was about to hit him, Sakura tackled him to the ground. Unfortunately, the scorpion's tail grazed her back before it slammed into the ground where Syaoran had been standing. She winced at the contact, but Syaoran didn't notice. The pair hit the ground and rolled a few feet away from the scorpion. Just as the two stood up they had to jump apart in opposite directions because the stinger came at them again. With both of the "knights" on either side of it, the scorpion went for Syaoran because he was closer. He drew his sword and started hitting it, but it was completely unfazed because of the hard shell that seemed to be encasing it everywhere. Sakura got up and ran over to the scorpion from behind. Seeing that it was occupied with Syaoran, she ran underneath it. It only took her a second to realize that its belly was the only unprotected place on its body. Sakura drew her sword and sliced open its belly from front to back. Then she jumped out from underneath it before its insides fell out and she got crushed. The scorpion crashed to the floor and lay there unmoving, apparently dead.

Sakura walked over to Syaoran. "Are you okay?" she panted.

"Yeah . . . yeah I'm okay. You?" he asked in return as he put his sword back in its sheath.

"Me too," she lied. She didn't think the wound from the scorpion was serious, though it hurt like hell. Plus she didn't want Syaoran to worry about it either.

"Good," he replied as he gave her a nod, then he stood up. "That was good, what you did I mean. Good job."

Sakura blushed bashfully and gave him a smile. "Thanks."

Syaoran and Sakura continued on until they reached the exit. Sakura used her necklace once again and they started walking in the direction the necklace pointed to. After a while Sakura started to feel sick. She stated getting dizzy and her head hurt. Plus she could feel her body temperature dropping.

_What's wrong with me?_ she though through the fog that was starting to envelop her mind.

Syaoran looked behind him to see her staggering several steps behind him. "Sakura are you all right? You don't look so good."

Sakura tried to get her eyes to focus on his face, but all she saw were cloudy blurs. It didn't help that when Syaoran spoke his voice was all foggy and fuzzy.

"Yeah . . . I'll be fi-" Sakura didn't even get to finish her sentence because she collapsed onto the ground. Syaoran's eyes widened in surprise as he ran over to her.

"Sakura! Sakura what's wrong!? Wake up!"

Syaoran noticed how pale she looked and put his hand on her cheek. He gasped at how cold it was.

_She's freezing!_

He also noticed that her breathing was getting shallower and more ragged by the second. Syaoran didn't know what to do. Heck he didn't even know what was wrong with her in the first place. Wasting no more time, Syaoran unhooked his cape, wrapped it around Sakura, scooped her up in his arms, and started running as fast has he could.

_Hopefully that village of Pandora is around here somewhere. Maybe I can get some help for Sakura there_, he thought. "Hang in there Sakura!"

After running for five straight minutes, Syaoran came across a small log cabin. It wasn't the village of Pandora but it would have to do. Syaoran ran up to the front door and started pounding on it, praying that someone would answer.

"Hello! Is anybody here?! Please open the door! My friend needs help!"

An older lady in her late fifty's came around from the back of the house. You could tell from her attire that she had been doing some gardening.

"Excuse me young man, what's wrong?" she asked in a kind and gentle voice.

"It's my friend! Something's wrong with her and I don't know what to do!" Syaoran cried his face panic stricken.

"Okay sonny calm down. Bring her inside and I'll take a look at her."

Syaoran sighed in relief. "Thank you."

He followed the lady into the house. She walked over to the sink and started washing her hands.

"Set her over there on my bed," she directed.

Syaoran walked over to the bed and set Sakura down. He ran his fingers down her cheek, noting that she was still as cold as she was five minutes ago. The lady walked over to him.

"What's your name?" she inquired.

"My name's Syaoran and this is Sakura."

The lady stared at him intently before speaking again. "I see. My name's Himiko. Now then, what seems to be the problem with your friend?"

"I don't know!" Syaoran cried exasperatedly, "We went through this cave, and then we were attacked by this giant scorpion. Sakura killed it, and we kept going. But about five minutes after we got out of the cave Sakura just passed out! Her body temperature has also dropped and her breathing's shallow too."

Himiko started to check Sakura over. "Was she stung by the scorpion?"

"Not that I know of . . ."

Himiko spotted a small amount of blood on Sakura's shoulder that Syaoran hadn't noticed. She examined her should and sighed. "It looks like she got hit after all."

Himiko pointed at Sakura's shoulder. Syaoran couldn't think of when she would have been hit, but then he remembered when she pushed him out of the way.

"It seems your friend has been poisoned," Himiko concluded.

"What?!" Syaoran yelled wide-eyed.

"A scorpion's stinger is poisonous. This particular poison is slow. It attacks the heart and starts to slow it down till it just stops. Because it's slowing her heart, her breathing is getting shallower and her circulation is slowing, so her body temperature is dropping steadily."

Syaoran hung his head in his hands. "This is all my fault . . ."

Himiko looked at his face and saw guilt mixed with devastation. She smiled warmly. "But there is a cure."

His head shot up from his hands to look at Himiko, eye's filled with hope. "Really?!"

Himiko nodded her head. "Yes. In fact, I have the plants needed to make the cure growing in my own backyard. All I have to do is mix the plants together, crush them into a liquid and have her drink it. The plant juice will dissolve the poison out of her blood."

Syaoran's mood immediately lifted. Out of curiosity he asked, "How do you know about this kind of stuff?"

"I love plants. I've raised many gardens since I was a little girl, so you name a plant and I know what it can be used for," she answered fondly. Himiko motioned for Syaoran to follow her out to the backyard. He looked back at Sakura, worry evident on his face.

Himiko noticed and said, "Don't worry about her, she'll be fine. Come on now, the sooner we get those flowers picked, the sooner your friend will be healed."

He nodded his head and followed her out. Once out back in her garden, Himiko started to collect the plants she needed to make a cure for Sakura.

"You know . . . I know who you are," she stated, her voice devoid of emotion.

Syaoran blinked. "What? I'm just a knight from the Kinomoto kingdom."

Himiko eyed him evenly. "No you're not. In fact, you're not even from the Kinomoto kingdom. You're Prince Syaoran from the Li kingdom. And you're friend is the lovely Princess Sakura of the Kinomoto kingdom. My question is, what on Earth are the two of you doing running around out here dressed as knights from the Kinomoto kingdom?"

Caught by surprise at being busted Syaoran was at a loss for words. "Uh, that is . . ."

Himiko continued, "Especially when Princess Sakura should be getting ready for her wedding to Prince Eriol."

At that Syaoran's face fell and Himiko knew she had struck a sore spot. She had finished collecting the plants she need and started back for the house, followed by Syaoran. He had forgotten all about Sakura's engagement to Eriol. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was starting to like Sakura more and more as they traveled together. Himiko cleared her throat.

"Of course I did hear that at one point the two of you might be wed."

Syaoran sighed as Himiko started to wash the plants and crush them together in a liquid.

"Yeah but I blew it."

"And is that a bad thing?" she pried.

Syaoran didn't answer. Instead he glanced at the sleeping Sakura with a look of longing in his eyes.

His glance didn't go unnoticed by Himiko. "I see, so it is bad."

She walked over to Sakura and lifted her head up on her lap. Then she started to pour a little of the special liquid into her mouth at a time while plugging her nose so she'd have to swallow it.

"It's just, when Sakura and I met, I didn't have any interest in things like girls or marriage. I just . . . didn't care I guess. But since then I've-"

"Changed?" Himiko interjected.

"Yeah . . . but my chance has come and gone," Syaoran balled his hands into fists and scowled, "And to think Eriol of all people is going to get Sakura."

Seeing the vein throbbing on Syaoran's forehead at the mention of Eriol, Himiko decided to change the subject as she walked back over to the sink to clean up the mess the medicine made.

"So tell me, just what are the two of you doing out here on your own anyway?"

Syaoran chuckled sarcastically. "Heh, where do I start?"

"Start where the story begins of course," Himiko suggested.

Syaoran sweat dropped. "That's, uh, not what I meant," he scratched his head.,"Let's see . . . okay, do you know of a man by the name Tojo Yamada?"

Himiko's face grew stern. "I've heard of him. He's a selfish, cold-hearted man that cares only about his needs and wants."

Syaoran involuntarily shuddered at her words. They reminded him of himself, the way he was before he met Sakura.

Syaoran continued with his story. "Yeah well, he's after something called the crystal of power, and he needs Sakura to get it. He stormed her castle during the ball being held for her and Eriol."

"So you two are going to try and destroy it before Tojo uses it?" she guessed.

"That's right."

"Then I wish the two of you the best of luck. Tojo is a dangerous man that must be stopped at all cost."

Syaoran nodded his head in agreement. Just then they heard a faint moan from the bed. Syaoran immediately walked over to Sakura followed by Himiko.

"Sakura?" he called hoping for a response.

She opened her eyes to come face to face with the Li kingdom's prince.

A big smile broke out on Syaoran's face. "Sakura you're awake!"

She put a hand to her head. "What happened?" she paused to look around then added, "and where are we?"

"Don't worry. We're in safe hands," Syaoran said reassuringly.

He gestured to Himiko. "Sakura this is Himiko. She saved your life."

Sakura blinked, obviously confused. Syaoran sat on the edge of the bed and explained what had happened. When he was finished she turned to Himiko.

Sakura bowed her head and said, "Thank you for helping me Himiko, but please don't tell anyone that we're royalty."

Himiko smiled. "What ever are you talking about? You two are knights from the Kinomoto kingdom."

Sakura smiled at Himiko's response.

"Sakura, why didn't you tell me you got injured?" Syaoran changed the subject, a serious look etched on his handsome face.

Sakura looked down at the bed spread covering her and started to squeeze handfuls of it anxiously. "Well, I didn't think it was a big deal. The thing hardly touched me."

"Sakura you were poisoned!" he yelled sharply. He softened his tone when he saw the nervous look on Sakura's face and added, "If something happens to you please let me know okay?"

"Okay . . . I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Syaoran sighed. "Actually I'm the one that should apologize."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise at his statement. "You?"

"Yeah. You didn't want to go into that cave but I kind of made you. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have been poisoned."

"Don't worry about it Syaoran. We had to go that way anyway. The necklace said so."

Himiko interrupted the two. "Well, Sakura should rest for the rest of the day, so the two of you are more than welcome to stay here for the night if you want. I've only got one bed so you'll have to sleep on the floor, but I'll feed you dinner and you'll have a roof over your heads."

"Thank you, that's very kind of you, but we really don't want to be a burden," Sakura said.

Himiko waved Sakura off. "Nonsense. After what the two of you are doing to help the people of this land it's the least I can do. Besides, it'll be my pleasure to have you, both of you. I don't get much company out here."

Sakura and Syaoran thanked her again for her hospitality then offered to help her with dinner in return for letting them stay.

End chapter 3.

**A/N:** That's it for this chapter. Hope you liked it. The names I used above for places are all from Square-Enix games that were made back in the day for SNES, although when they came out it was still Squaresoft so this is my disclaimer to them. "The village of Pandora and the Lofty Mountains come for Secret of Mana and Guardia Forest comes from Chrono Trigger. I don't own either of those names or the games, so there." Well, I own them but not the rights to them lol Both were very fun SNES games (although the latter was re-made for PSX). Well that's all, see you again once I get chapter four revamped.

_  
SakuraJade_


	4. What Lies Through Guardia Forest

**A/N:** Hey there everybody, here's chapter 4. Sorry it's so late but since it's not as popular this time around as it was the first time this story was posted it's not a high priority on my to do list to be honest. Oh well, it will be completed eventually simply b/c it's already done.

"means spoken words

_italics_ means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N etc.

Disclaimer: "I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura or Chrono Trigger, which is where the name Guardia Forest comes from."

**Learning To Love**

Chapter 4: What Lies Through Guardia Forest

Syaoran and Sakura were standing outside the front door of Himiko's cabin. Himiko was standing in the doorway.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality and kindness Himiko," Sakura said in a cheery voice.

Syaoran nodded his head. "Yeah I don't know what we would have done without you."

Himiko waved them off. "Don't worry about it. It was my pleasure to have the two of you for the night. You just be careful going into that forest. Guardia Forest is full of unusual creatures. Some are good, but most are bad. Look out for each other."

Sakura smiled and nodded her head. "We will."

The royal pair walked down the front stairs and started to walk towards Guardia Forest, which was looming a few yards away from Himiko's cabin.

"Good luck!" the older lady called after their retreating backs.

Sakura and Syaoran turned their heads to look at her, a symbol that they heard her and smiled at her. Himiko waved a final good-bye before returning to the inside of her cabin.

Syaoran walked towards the forest as Sakura skipped and hummed. He couldn't help but smile at Sakura's outgoing mood.

"Someone's on the peppy side today."

Sakura twirled around before answering him. "You bet I am! After I woke up at Himiko's she made me rest for almost the whole time we were there!"

Syaoran shook his head. "Well what do you expect? You had been poisoned and you needed rest."

"Yeah but it was soooo boring!" the green-eyed princess whined in response.

Sakura did a cartwheel to emphasize her point. She suddenly stopped as she realized that they were at Guardia Forest. Sakura looked up at the tall tree's that loomed over head. Syaoran looked up as well.

"Wow . . . I've never seen so many tree's . . ."

"Me neither."

Sakura took a small step forward. "I wonder what's in there."

"Well, let's go find out." Syaoran replied as he walking into the forest.

Sakura noticed and ran to catch up with him. The two looked around as they walked through the dense forest. It was quite dark because there were so many trees blocking the sunlight. Sakura looked around and shivered.

"This place gives me the creeps."

"Yeah I know," Syaoran said glancing around suspiciously.

"It's so quite," Sakura whispered.

"A little too quite."

As if on cue, some of the nearby bushes started to rustle. Sakura jumped and wrapped her arms around Syaoran's neck, startled. Syaoran's cheeks tinged a light shade of red.

Sakura shrieked, "What is that?!"

"I don't know."

"Y-you don't think it's that Shiro guy again do you?!"

"I don't think so . . ."

Sakura let go of Syaoran as he started to slowly walk towards the source of the noise. He put his hands on the bushes and started to part them when . . .

"Hey-hey-ho!"

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Syaoran fell over onto his butt as a little yellow creature with white wings and a tail with a yellow fluff ball on it flew out of the bushes and started to fly around.

"Oh wow it's been awhile since I've seen humans in this forest!" the small creature chattered as it zoomed circles around the two teens.

The little animal stopped in front of Sakura. "Wow you're pretty, and you look nice too. Do you have any food? I'm starving!"

Sakura started to giggle at the creature's antics until Syaoran ran towards them with his sword draw.

"Hey get the hell away from her!"

Syaoran swung his sword at the tiny yellow stuffed animal look-alike, which dodged it.

"Hey watch it! You almost hit me!"

Syaoran swung his sword again, missing the creature by an inch. "That's the point!"

The creature flew behind Sakura and peeked back over her shoulder. "Help me! You're friend's crazy!"

Sakura looked at her male companion with a disapproving look. "Syaoran stop it! You'll hurt him!"

Syaoran looked at her flabbergast. "That's what I'm trying to do! That thing could be dangerous! Remember what Himiko said? About how there's a lot of bad things in this forest!?"

"But she also said that there are some good creature's as well!" Sakura countered.

The furry animal piped up. "I'm one of those good creatures, I swear! All I want is some food!"

Syaoran eyed the creature peeking out from behind the princess and re-sheathed his sword. The creature flew out and stopped in front of Sakura and took a deep breath of relief.

"Oh thank goodness."

"So who are you?" Sakura asked.

"More appropriately, what are you?"

The creature gave Syaoran a look before turning back to Sakura.

"My name's Kero and I'm a forest sprite." (**A/N:** Kero may be a forest sprite but he still looks the same as in the original show.)

"Well it's very nice to meet you Kero. My name's Sakura and this is Syaoran."

"What are you two doing in here? Not many people come through here."

Sakura moved a strand of stray hair behind her ear. "We're on a journey to destroy something called the crystal of power and we have to go through this forest to get to it."

Kero crossed his legs and put his little fist under his chin in mid air. "I see. Well, I'd hate to see someone as nice as you in danger so I'll go with you to help you through the forest."

Sakura's face lit up with a smile. "Really? That's so nice of you! Isn't it Syaoran?"

Syaoran crossed his arms over his chest. "Humph. Like there's anything that a wannabe stuffed animal can do other then free load off of us."

Kero flew into Syaoran's face. "Hey! Who you callin' a free loadin' stuffed animal?"

Sakura stepped in between them before Syaroan could retaliate.

"Okay you two that's enough. We have to get going."

Kero flew over and sat on Sakura's shoulder while Syaoran walked next to her.

"So . . . you got anything to eat?"

Syaoran facefaulted then got back up and glared at Kero. "We just started and you already want to eat?!"

"Syaoran don't yell at him like that," Sakura reprimanded the prince, "If he's hungry he's hungry."

She took off her pack and handed Kero some homemade cookies that Himiko had given her before she and Syaoran left.

"Here ya go."

Kero took them and started munching immediately. "Thank you."

Sakura smiled. "You're welcome."

Sakura and Syaoran continued walking while Kero sat on Sakura's shoulder happily munching on the cookies.

"So, you two an item?" he nonchalantly asked.

Sakura blinked in surprise. "Pardon?"

"You know . . . a couple."

Kero noticed both Sakura and Syaoran's cheeks ting a nice shade of red as they vigorously shook their heads 'no'.

"No we're not."

"Nope. In fact, I'm engaged to someone else already."

Kero noticed that Sakura didn't exactly sound happy about that. Syaoran didn't notice however because he was too busy scowling at the mention of Sakura's engagement to his least favorite person.

Kero went on. "Oh. So why are you going after that power crystal thing?"

"It's the crystal of power," Syaoran corrected him.

"Whatever. Why are you going after it?"

Sakura spent the next few minutes explaining what was going on.

"So you two are really royalty, but you are disguised as knights from your kingdom?" he said as you pointed at Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "That's right."

"I see. That's pretty brave of you guys to take on this job."

"It's only been three days since we started and you wouldn't believe the stuff we've already been through."

"I'll say," Syaoran agreed.

The group continued walking until they came to a small lake. Sakura and Syaoran decided to stop and fill up their canteens. While they were doing that, a beautiful lady arose from the lake in the middle. Kero noticed and knew that there was going to be trouble.

"Uh-oh."

Sakura and Syaoran looked up at him while they capped their canteens.

"'Uh-oh' what?" Syoaran asked raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong Kero?"

Kero pointed at the lady in the middle of the lake staring at them. Sakura and Syaoran looked in the direction Kero was pointing in and saw her. She had a long blue dress on and long light-blue hair. She was pretty, but she didn't look right. She looked like trouble.

Sakura whispered trying to draw as little attention to them as possible. "Kero who is that?"

"Lucresia, the muse of the lake."

"The what?"

"Muse of the lake. She sings to the creatures of the forest with her beautiful voice and makes things grow by singing."

"Oh," Sakura let out the breath she had been unknowingly holding, " Well she doesn't sound like a bad . . . uh . . . thing."

Lucresia started to sing.

"What a beautiful song," Sakura admitted.

"Not really."

She turned to Kero. "Why do you say that?"

"Because, she may sound nice, and have a pretty voice, but she means trouble when it comes to you humans."

"How so?"

"Because she enjoys seducing men and messing with their heads and hearts. Her singing doesn't affect you because you're a girl, but it basically hypnotizes men and draws them to her."

Sakura let all of what Kero just said sink in. Then her eyes widened in realization.

"Then that means Syaoran-"

"Bingo."

Sakura looked at the spot next to her, but Syaoran was no longer there. He was already walking out to the middle of the lake towards Lucresia. His eyes were glazed over and his face didn't show any emotion. Sakura stood up.

"Syaoran stop! Don't go over to her!"

Sakura went to run towards him but felt something grab her. She turned her head to the left and the right to see two girls about her sizes holding onto her, one on each side. They were giggling maliciously as one turned into a tree while the other one was still holding Sakura.

"What the?!"

Kero shouted, "They're forest nymphs Sakura! They can change into anything that's in this forest! A tree, a bush, a flower you name it they can become it! And they serve Lucresia. When ever people come into this forest Lucresia takes the men and her nymphs take the women."

"Well what do they do with the women?!" Sakura asked as she struggled to loosen the grip one of the nymphs had on her.

"What do you think they do with them?! They kill them! After all they only want the men!"

The nymph that was still in the form of a girl yanked both or Sakura's arms over her head and a vine hanging from the "tree" quickly snaked around her wrist tying them together above her head. Sakura struggled as more vines started to wrap around her.

"Let go! Get off of me!"

Kero flew towards Sakura and started to try and bite through the vines to save her, but the "tree" used one of her branches to swat him away. Sakura looked out to the lake and saw Lucresia hugging Syaoran. She could see one side of his face and he looked completely out of it. She didn't know what she was going to do.

"Hey! You leave Syaoran alone!" she demanded.

Lucresia looked up at Sakura and smirked as if to say 'as if there's anything you can do about it'. She looked back down at Syaoran and went back to caressing his face, which made Sakura quite mad. She started kicking harder until the vines started winding around her legs as well.

"Syaoran! Fight it Syaoran! Don't let her get to you! I know you can do it, I believe in you!"

Lucresia saw something she'd never seen before when Sakura said that. She saw her victim's eye twitch a bit, as if Sakura was getting through to him. That worried her. No one had ever been able to break the spell that she would weave and she wasn't about to let someone break it now. She looked up at the nymphs that had Sakura.

"Shut her up now!" she ordered.

The other nymph nodded her head and turned into a tree on the other side of Sakura and started winding vines around her as well. Sakura could hardly move anymore because she was almost completely covered in vines. Only a few places were left uncovered revealing her clothes. They quickly made their way up to her head, intending to suffocate her. But Sakura would not give up without a fight. She continued to call out to Syaoran.

"You're stronger then her Syaoran! You can beat her! I have faith in you! We can't die here; think of all the people back home counting on us!"

With every sentence she said Syaoran's eyes twitched.

"Sa . . . ku . . . ra . . . ."

Lucresia's eyes flared. "Kill her now!"

The vines had reached her neck and were starting to make it hard for Sakura to breathe. She took one last breath before shouting desperately.

"SYAORAN!!"

The vines snaked up over her face and continued up her arms which were still hanging from the first "tree". As for Syaoran, he felt like his mind was surrounded by a heavy haze. He didn't really know what was going on. All he could think about was Lucresia and her singing. But then he kept hearing these other phrases, like 'fight it Syaoran!' and 'I believe in you!' But he didn't know where they were coming from. He also heard Lucresia stop singing to shout a few times, but to whom he did not know. All he heard was 'Shut her up!' and 'Kill her now!'

_Kill her? Who's her_

Then he heard a girl shout his name desperately and instantly the fog seemed to lift. Visions of Sakura filled his head again. Sakura smiling and sticking out her hand in a gesture of friendship; Sakura hugging him and crying; Sakura pushing him out of the way of the Scorpion's tail; Sakura skipping and doing cartwheels on the way to Guardia forest. His eyes were no longer glazed over and he was staring at a shocked Lucresia having no idea what was really going on. All he knew was that Sakura shouted his name and her voice sounded panicked.

"No, it can't be. How'd you overcome my spell!? It's not possible! Only the thing that is most important to you in the world could have stood a chance at saving you!" Lucresia scowled.

Syaoran wasn't really paying attention to her, he was looking around to see where Sakura was, but he didn't see her. He turned to Lucresia, his eyes burning with anger.

"What's going on! Where's Sakura!?"

Lucresia smirked. "Even if she did manage to bring you back to reality she's already suffered her own demise."

Syaoran's glare intensified. "What are you talking about!?"

Lucresia said nothing but pointed at something behind Syaoran. He turned to look where she was pointing. He saw the two "trees" with something wrapped in vines in between them. He didn't get it till he saw part of Sakura's shirt through some of the vines. Without a moments hesitation he drew his sword and made to run, but Lucresia grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"You're not going anywhere! You're mine!"

"Watch me!"

Syaoran swung his sword as he turned around, slicing through Lucresia's midriff. She let go and clutched her stomach as she fell to her knees wailing and started to sink back into the lake. Syaoran ran at the "trees" and cut the vine that held Sakura in between them. The cocoon of vines fell to the ground as Syaoran rammed his sword into one of the nymphs and then the other, causing them to scream and disappear. Syaoran re-sheathed his sword and immediately dropped to his knees next to Sakura. He started ripping all the vines off of her with his bare hands because he was afraid that if he used his sword he would cut Sakura in the process and he didn't want to kill her if she wasn't dead already . . .

_Don't think like that Syaoran! Sakura's alive! She's going to be just fine! She has to be . . . because you don't know what you're going to do if she isn't . . ._

He finally got her face and chest area uncovered. He sighed in relief when he saw that she was still breathing. It was shallow, but it was there. Kero finally came to and flew over to them.

"Is she okay?!"

"Yeah, I think she's going to be fine."

Syaoran gently shook her shoulders as he called out to her. "Sakura, Sakura wake up."

She groaned and opened her eyes half way. She saw Syaoran and weakly smiled.

"Syaoran, you're okay. I'm glad . . ."

That's all Sakura got out before she passed out again. Syaoran just stared at her, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

_She's glad I'm okay._

Kero finally flew in front of Syaoran's face to snap him out of his stupor.

"Hey kid we gotta move. You may have killed the forest nymphs but I don't think you killed Lucresia. Let's book it before she decides to make an appearance again."

Syoran nodded, "Right."

He gently hoisted Sakura onto his back so she could ride piggy-back. Then he started walking while Kero flew next to him. Three hours later they decided that it was too dark to keep traveling and that they would have to make camp. Syaoran set Sakura down in her sleeping bag and started a fire. Syaoran and Kero ate some dinner as they sat around the fire. While they were eating, Kero caught Syaoran staring at Sakura's sleeping form. He smirked as he turned to Syaoran.

"Uh-huh, so that's how it is."

Syaoran turned to look at Kero. "What are you mumbling about?"

"Nothing much, I just realized what your feelings are for Sakura that's all."

Syaoran's face reddened as he shouted at Kero. "What are you talking about?!"

Kero shook his head. "Kid it's as plain as day. Take for example the way you were just staring at her."

"I was just spacing out that's all!"

"And the thing that happened with Lucresia."

"What thing?" Syaoran asked curious.

"How Sakura managed to snap you out of her spell. That's never been done before. You two are the only humans to ever survive an encounter with Lucresia. Like she said, Sakura's gotta be pretty important to you to pull you away from her like that. Why don't you just admit you love her and get it over with?"

"Because I don't love her!" Syaoran growled in denial, "I hardly even like her, I'm just doing this because my mother told me I had to and if she dies I won't be able to find the crystal and destroy it!"

Syaoran was lying. He was only saying that because he wanted to get Kero off his back. The truth was he was starting to care about Sakura very much, and that thought scared him, which was something Syaoran Li rarely was, scared. To top it off, Sakura was already engaged to Eriol, so no matter what he felt he couldn't be with her, not now anyway. He had his chance and he blew it. Unknown to both Syaoran and Kero, Sakura had awoken because of their shouting and had heard the whole thing. She stifled a sniffle and wiped away the tears that were cascading down her cheeks. She didn't want them to know that she was awake.

_So everything that Syaoran told me about changing was a lie. __I can't believe he lied to me. __I'm just a crystal finding compass to him . . ._

Syaoran continued. "Besides, she's already engaged to Prince Eriol."

"So? That doesn't mean you can't love her."

"I told you I don't love her, now shut up and go to sleep!"

Syaoran got out his sleeping and went to bed, as did Kero. Unfortunately he couldn't sleep. His mind was in a whirl of thoughts and he kept moving about in his sleeping bag. Kero noticed and finally spoke up.

"Hey kid, what's your problem?"

"I can't sleep."

"Are you think about something," Kero got a sly smirk on his face, "or someone?"

Syaoran turned away from Kero. "I just can't sleep okay!? Now leave me alone!"

Kero glared at Syaoran. "Geeze you're a brat."

Kero rolled over and went to sleep, leaving Syaoran the only one awake. He sighed as he looked across the fire at Sakura's sleeping face. He had so many questions, but he didn't really want the answers to them because he was afraid of what they would be. He was afraid that Kero might be right.

_I just don't know what to do. __Ever since I set out on this journey with Sakura she's the only thing I think about. __Every time she's in remote danger I get so scared, and I'm never scared, not even when I'm in danger. __But the minute Sak__ur__a's in danger I feel like m__y__ whole world's going to fall apart. __And yet every time she smiles I feel happy just knowing she's happy. __I don't get it, why do I feel like this? __What's wrong with me? __And more importantly, what do I do about it?_

Seeing that no one was going to answer his questions, Syaoran rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

_**End of chapter 4.**_

**A/N:** Sorry that was so short, but I couldn't think of anything else to put in this chapter. I'm trying to make the journey interesting by having Sakura and Syaoran run into people, or things like Lucresia, so I hope everybody's okay with that kind of thing. After all, this story is really fantasy based. Anyway, hope you liked chapter 4, see-ya in chapter 5!  
_  
SakuraJade_


	5. Pandora and the Griffin Claw Gang

A/N: Originally when I wrote this chapter I had a case of major writer's block, which was uplifted by an idea someone by the pen name of Sakura-Chan gave to me. I'd like to still give credit to her for the idea of this chapter so even if you don't see this fic in it's second time around thanks a bunch sweetie! Anyway here's the next installment.

Disclaimer: "Once again I am claiming absolutely no owner ship of Cardcaptor Sakura or the characters in it. Also though the name of Pandora is in ancient history I did get the idea for it as a town from Secret of Mana (super cute and fun SNES game from way back in the day) which is a Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) game so I don't own that either they do."

" means spoken word

i_talics_ means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N etc.

**Learning To Love**

_Chapter 5: Pandora and the Griffin Claw Gang_

Sakura, Syaoran, and Kero had been up and walking for about an hour now and Sakura had hardly said a word. Syaoran and Kero were well aware of her sudden silence. Sakura was walking a little ahead of them. She turned her head around to look at their furry sprite friend.

"Hey Kero?" she asked breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"About how much farther do we have to walk until we're out of this forest?"

Kero scratched his chin. "About another hour I'd say."

Sakura looked forward again.

"Oh," was her simplistic reply.

Well they were walking Syaoran leaned over to Kero to whisper so that the less than chipper princess wouldn't hear them.

"Hey."

Kero turned to him and leaned in close. "Yeah?"

"Have you noticed that Sakura's-"

"Not as enthusiastic as she normally is?" he finished for the prince.

Syaoran nodded, "Yeah, I wonder what's wrong with her."

Kero shrugged, "Search me. Maybe it's that time of the month."

Syaoran almost lost his balance. "It's not that!" he hissed.

"Well how do you know?!"

Syaoran's face turned beet red. "I-I just do okay!"

Sakura had been walking a little in front of Syaoran and when she stopped, because he was talking with Kero he bumped right into her.

"Sorry Sakura."

She wasn't paying attention to him though because she was staring at something up ahead.

"How beautiful . . ."

Syaoran blinked. "Huh?"

"Look," She said pointing ahead.

Syaoran and Kero followed her hand and saw a unicorn a little farther up grazing.

"I've never seen a real unicorn before," she said still in awe of the lovely beast in front of them.

"Neither have I."

"Hey, we could ride him to the edge of the forest. We'd cut the time it takes to get out of here in half!" Kero exclaimed.

He flew over to the unicorn. After about a minute he motioned for Sakura and Syaoran to join him. They looked at each other and shrugged as they headed for Kero and the unicorn.

"It's okay with him that we ride him to the edge of the forest," Kero started, "he was kinda sketchy at first since some people hunt unicorns for their horns, but after I reassured him that you to are nothing like that he agreed to let us ride him."

Sakura smiled for the first time that day. "Great!"

"Well let's get on and get going then."

Sakura climbed on first and then Syaoran got on behind her. Sakura had to lean onto the neck to hang on and Syaoran had to wrap his arms around her waist and lean down on her back to keep him self from falling off since there weren't any reigns to hold onto. Kero sat in Sakura's backpack. The unicorn started galloping towards the edge of the massive forest.

"Oh yeah, we'll definitely get out of here in no time," Kero smirked at their good fortune.

Syaoran nodded his head in agreement. Sakura remained silent. She felt very uncomfortable with Sayoran's arms around her and his body leaning against hers. Normally she would have relished the feeling, but not after what he said last night. Syaoran himself was taking this time to enjoy being so close to his lovely companion. Just as Kero said, it didn't take long for them to reach the end of the forest. They all dismounted from the unicorn and bid it farewell.

"Hey thanks for the ride pal. See-ya around!"

Sakura: smiled, "Yes thank you. It sure is nice to be out of there."

Syaoran nodded, "You got that right."

The unicorn snorted and nuzzled Sakura's chest, earning a giggle from her, then it took off back into the forest. Syaoran turned to Kero.

"Hey shouldn't you be going back in there with it?"

"No way, I'm going to go with you two on your adventure!"

Syaoran's eye's grew wide. "What!?"

On the other hand Sakura's smile grew wider. "Really? Well then welcome aboard Kero."

"Thanks Sakura."

"I don't believe this," the prince whined, smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Well, let's get going. The sooner we get moving the sooner we end this quest."

Sakura started forward, Kero and Syaoran stared after her for a second before they followed after her.

_What's her problem? __She's not acting like her normal__ cheerful self . . . _Syaoran thought.

After walking for about a half an hour, Sakura spotted a town in the distance.

"Hey look!"

"It's a town," Syaoran stated the obvious.

"Yeah, I'll bet it's the town of Pandora. Come on, let's go check it out."

Syaoran sighed, "Fine."

The trio walked/flew to the entrance of town and stopped at what they saw. Half the town was in shambles. The entrance apparently led to the market and everything was a mess. Some of the vending carts were over-turned, some had half their merchandise missing, and some were completely smashed.

"Oh my gosh . . . " Sakura whispered.

Kero sat down on her shoulder. "I wonder what happened."

Suddenly Sakura heard some screaming from further into the town and immediately broke out in a run. Kero was knocked off her shoulder by her spontaneous out burst.

"Sakura wait! Where are you going!?" Syaoran yelled after her.

It didn't take Sakura long to lose Syaoran and Kero in the mess. She didn't really mind though, after last night she was nothing but uncomfortable around him. As she ran she absentmindedly heard people shouting things. Stuff about them being saved because a Kinomoto knight had arrived, but Sakura didn't pay any attention to that, she continued to run towards the screaming she heard. When she reached the source of the screaming she saw three women and their children backed up in between two buildings. There were two mean looking men towering over them, their swords drawn as they spoke.

"Now give us all the money you have on you."

"Unless you wanna die."

The children were crying and clinging to their mothers.

"But we can hardly afford to feed our families as it is!" one of the women shouted.

"Ask me if I give a shit!" the bandit with spiked black hair barked.

"Just hand over all your valuables or your children will be the first to die."

That was the final straw for Sakura. She unsheathed her sword and held it out in defense as she yelled at the bandits.

"Hey! Get away from them!"

The two men turned around to see Sakura.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Sakura obviously wasn't about to tell them who she really was, so she lied.

"I am a knight of the Kinomoto kingdom and on behalf of the king and queen and the people of this town I order you to leave!"

"Who do you think you are you little bitch!?" the one with sleek blonde hair bellowed, "you can't tell us what to do!"

"That's right. We're members of the Griffin Claw gang and we listen to no one 'cept our boss! And unfortunately for you, you look nothin' like him."

Sakura held her ground. "If you don't leave peacefully then I will be forced to make you leave."

"Go ahead and try it little girl!" The spiky haired man mocked.

He charged at her, sword raised above his head. When he reached her, he swiftly brought it down, but Sakura raised her sword above her head to block it, then she kicked him in the stomach, pushing him away from her. The blonde man swung his sword at her several times, but each time Sakura was able to dodge or block. Though she didn't like the idea of taking another persons life, she would kill them if they were a threat to innocent people or herself. The bandit with blonde hair swung down at her and Sakura swung her sword upward knocking his back, then she thrust forward and rammed her sword into his shoulder to wound him so he would hopefully stop fighting her before she had to inflict a fatal wound. To her relief it worked. He backed off to hold his shoulder. The other guy got back up and Sakura blocked his attack just in time. Their swords were locked and they were face to face, though Sakura had to look up somewhat since he was taller than her. She was also having a hard time holding him at bay. Being a girl, speed was her skill. That's why she was so good, because she was fast enough to avoid getting hit and fast enough to hit the other person, but now that they were both pushing towards each other, their swords locked, it was turning into a test of strength, which wasn't a good thing for Sakura. The bandit was much bigger than her, stronger too, meaning she just might lose.

"Not so good now are ya? Hahahahahaha!" the bandit laughed in her face.

Sakura glared at the man. She was just getting ready to pull off a desperate move when a loud, shrill whistle rang out.

"Damn, the boss is callin' us back, and just when things were gettin' interesting too. Oh well, I'll just have to take a parting gift."

He reached up with one hand, grabbed Sakura's necklace, and pulled. Then he pushed Sakura causing her to stumble back a bit. He turned around, grabbed his partner, and ran off, dragging his partner behind him. Sakura watched them go. As soon as he was gone she re-sheathed her sword.

"Shit, he took the crystal."

Immediately she was swarmed by the women and children she had saved. They were thanking her repeatedly.

"Oh thank you, thank you Miss for saving us and our children!"

"Yes you don't know how much it means to us."

Sakura cracked a half smile a little embarrassed at the sudden attention. "Don't worry about it, really. It wasn't a problem."

Meanwhile Syaoran and Kero were still running around looking for their missing companion.

"Damn it! Where the hell did she go!?" Syaoran growled his voice a mixture of irritation and worry.

"I don't know, but I can't believe she ran off like that!" Kero said keeping pace with the boy as they moved about the messy town.

"Yeah I know. And to top it off she was running towards people screaming, which means she's probably in trouble now too."

"Hey, don't underestimate Sakura she's stronger than you're giving her credit for," Kero defended Sakura.

Suddenly they heard a loud, shrill whistle and all the people around them sighed in relief. Syaoran and Kero stopped then looked around.

"What's going on?"

Kero shrugged, "Beats me, but it looks like the people are really relieved to hear that whistle."

Just then they saw Sakura walking towards them, followed by three women and some children.

"Sakura!" Syaoran shouted in relief.

He quickly ran up to her, Kero right behind him. They stopped when they reached her.

"Sakura where did you go?! Are you okay?!"

One of the children spoke up.

"Is she okay?! Are you kidding?! She's more than okay she kicked some major butt and saved us all!"

"What happened?" Syaoran asked calming down a bit.

"They were being attacked by two bandits."

Syaoran's eyes widened. "And you fought with them!?"

"Yeah, so? I beat them."

"But that was dangerous! You could have gotten hurt or even killed!" he reprimanded his female companion.

"Look, I'm okay," she pointed to the women and children, "they're okay," she pointed at Syaoran and Kero, "you two are okay, everyone's okay! So there's no need to worry about it."

Before Syaoran could reply, a young man approached them. He only looked about two years older than Sakura and Syaoran, if that.

"Thank our lucky stars, you really are here."

"Excuse me?" Syaoran asked almost rudely.

"Who are you?" Sakura inquired.

"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me to not introduce myself first. My name is Kesuke Sakamoto, and I am the village elder of Pandora."

Sakura and Syaoran's eyes widened.

"What?!"

"You're the elder?!" Sakura squeaked.

"That's right."

"B-but, you're so young!" the young princess stuttered out.

Kesuke started to chuckle. "Yes thank you for noticing. You see, my father was the elder, but sadly he was killed a little while back by a gang that raids this town quite often. So I was forced to take over for him."

Sakura lowered her head. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Please don't worry about it. What are your names?"

Sakura looked back up at Kesuke. "Well, my name's Sakura, and this is Syaoran."

"Hey!" Kero shouted at Sakura's neglect to introduce him.

"Oh and this is Kero, he's a forest sprite."

"I see."

Syaoran crossed his arms over his chest. "So what did you really want to talk to us about?"

"Ah, well, judging by your outfits and armor I'm guessing you're knights from the Kinomoto kingdom right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So," Kesuke continued, "I was wondering if you two could get rid of the Griffin Claw gang."

Sakura blinked. "The what?"

"The Griffin Claw gang. Their hid out is in a cave a half a mile from here. And quite often they ransack the village as you can see."

Kesuke waved his hand at the wreckage of the market to emphasis his statement.

"We'd be eternally grateful if you'd help us by getting rid of them."

"Let me get this straight," Syaoran spoke up, "you want us to go to the Griffin Claw gang's hide out and run them out of here?"

"Well yes. Of course we'd pay you for your services," Keskue added.

"Forget it," Syaoran said bluntly.

Kesuke looked taken back, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"But-"

Syaoran cut the elder off, "Look there's only two of us, knights or not, how do you expect us to take on a whole gang of bandits?" _Especially since we're not even real knights, _He thought to himself.

One of the kids Sakura saved approached them.

"But I saw her," he said pointing at Sakura, "take on two of them at a time, all by her self! And she really gave them a run for their money! They couldn't even touch her! Taking on one would have been tough enough, but if she could take on two I'm sure the two of you could take on them all!"

Syoaran sighed, "Even so we're already on a very important mission and we don't have time to worry about anything else. We have to continue our journey immediately."

Sakura started to twiddle her fingers together. "Um . . . Syaoran?"

He turned to look at Sakura. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Uh . . . actually we can't continue solving our problem until we solve theirs."

"And why is that?" he asked with raised eye brows.

"Because when I was fighting those two bandits, one of them stole my crystal necklace and we're lost without it."

Syaoran was ready to have a heart attack. "What!?"

Saura looked down at the ground. "Sorry."

Syaoran put his hand on his head. "We're so screwed."

Sakura looked back up at Syaoran. "No we're not. All we have to do is go and get it back, and while we're at it we might as well try and get rid of the Griffin Claw gang so the town will be safe. Besides, we could use the reward money. The little money Toya gave me is almost gone."

Syaoran sighed.

"So . . . does that mean you guys will do it?" Kesuke asked hopefully.

"Only because we don't have a choice," Syaoran grumbled.

Kesuke's face brightened into a smile. "Oh thank you, thank you!"

Kesuke turned to face the growing crowd of curious villagers.

"People of Pandora, listen up! These two knights of the Kinomoto kingdom, Sakura and Syaoran-"

"Hey!"

"And their forest sprite Kero-"

"That's better."

"-have volunteered to try and dispose of the Griffin Claw gang!"

The town's people immediately started cheering for them.

"Long live the Kinomoto kingdom!"

"God bless your souls!"

Sakura and Syaoran looked around at the people cheering for them and blushed, then looked at each other and shrugged. Being royalty they'd both had people fawning over them before but this was different. They weren't used to this kind of praise, but it made both of them feel good. It felt great to know that because of them, these people were rejoicing.

XXXXXX

Sakura and Syaoran were walking through the woods towards the Griffin Claw's hid-out. Kero was hiding in Sakura's backpack.

"I never knew how well loved the Kinomoto kingdom was," Syaoran blurted out suddenly.

Sakura gave him a side-long glance, "What do you mean?"

"You saw how the people were cheering for us all because we're supposedly knights from your kingdom."

"No they were cheering because we're knights, period," she replied simply, "if we were dressed as knights from your kingdom, or Tomoyo's kingdom etc. they would have been cheering for that kingdom."

"Yeah well, other places have seemed to like us because of these uniforms. Like the Village of Mead. And Himiko seemed to think highly of your kingdom too."

Sakura shrugged as she looked at the sky. "What can I say my father and mother are good rulers. The people love them. That's why I want to rule just like my parents someday, even though it will be for Eriol's kingdom instead of my own."

Syaoran flinched involuntarily at the mention of Sakura's fiancé. They reached the cave and got down behind a bolder that faced it.

"Okay, so we're here, now what do we do?"

"Get my necklace back what else?"

"I know that, but how are we going to go about doing this?" Syaoran asked, "we can't very well just walk in and say 'hey you give us back the crystal necklace you stole!' now can we?"

"You got a point . . ."

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

Sakura and Syaoran whirled around to see two of the bandits standing over them, their swords already drawn. Syaoran reached for his sword, but one of the bandits moved his closer to Syaoran's neck.

"Don't even think about it."

"You two are coming with us," the first one said.

One of the men grabbed Sakura while the other grabbed Syaoran and shoved them into the cave first.

"Great, just great," Syaoran said sarcastically.

Sakura sighed. "It's just not our day . . ."

"Come on move it!"

"Let's go!" the other shouted shoving Syaoran forward.

They pushed the couple further into the cave and brought them to the main room where the rest of the bandits were celebrating their resent raid on Pandora. The boss of the gang was sitting in a large chair that was up on a platform over looking the festivities. He was an older man, in his forties at least. He looked to be somewhat tall and very round. His hair was brown and thinning from age. His eyes were wide and brown. Sakura and Syaoran suddenly burst into the room followed closely by the two bandits that had caught them and every one partying in the room got silent. They dragged the royal pair up before the boss.

"Boss, we found these two snoopin' around outside the hide-out."

"I bet that town we're always pickin' on hired them to try and get rid of us."

The boss flat out started laughing, his voice booming around the cave.

"Two knights take out a whole gang of bandits? You must be joking!"

Syaoran crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled. "I told Kesuke it was a stupid idea . . ."

"The day anyone is able to get rid of Yoshi Watanabe is the day hell freezes over!"

Just then one of the men in the crowd stepped forward and pointed at Sakura.

"It's her!"

"What are you babbling about Amano?!"

"That's the chick that tried to stop me and Takeshi!" he cried.

Yoshi looked Sakura over as she struggled against the guy holding her.

"Is that so?"

Sakura glared daggers at Amano. "Give me back my necklace you jerk!" she demanded.

Yoshi walked down to Sakura and grabbed her face to make her look at him.

"You are a pretty one. We've never had a chick in the gang before but there's a first for everything. Whadaya say? You wanna become the first female member of the Griffin Claws?"

Sakura spit in his face as her answer. Yoshi wiped it away in anger then he backhanded her across the face. Sakura just glared at him, not making a sound. Syaoran struggled against his captor.

"Don't touch her!"

Yoshi turned to Syaoran.

"And just what the hell are you gonna do about it you little punk?"

Yoshi turned back to Sakura ignoring the still struggling Syaoran.

"You've got fire, I like that. Very well, since you were able to take on two of my bandits all by your self I'll give you a fair chance. If you can beat all the guys I throw at you then you can go free. If you lose you stay and your friend dies."

Sakura's eyes widened. Even if Syaoran wasn't the great guy she thought he had become she still didn't want anything to happen to him.

"How do you figure that's fair!"

"Well I'm in charge and if I say its fair then it's fair."

Yoshi took the stolen necklace that Amano was wearing and put it back around Sakura's neck.

"Either way, you can have your necklace back. Be grateful I'm that generous."

Sakura glared at him. "Yeah you're a real prince."

"Make me fight instead!" Syaoran shouted, desperate to keep Sakura from having to be the one to fight.

Yoshi, still ignoring Syaoran, snapped his fingers and the bandit holding Sakura pushed her forward into the middle of the circle of bandits that had formed since her and Syaoran had been brought in. Sakura looked around her.

"Oh, and don't even think of escaping or I'll have your friend killed instantly."

Sakura looked at Syaoran helplessly. He was being detained by two guards now due to his aggressive struggling. Syaroan looked Sakura in the eyes.

"Don't do it Sakura!"

She threw her backpack at Syaoran's feet and turned back to Yoshi.

"Fine, I except the terms of your challenge seeing as I don't have a choice."

"Sakura!" Syaoran yelled.

Yoshi smiled mischievously. "I knew you'd see it my way. Don't worry I'll at least make it one on one."

One of Yoshi's men stepped forward and drew his sword.

"You're going down little girl."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "We'll see about that."

The man charged at her and Sakura just stood there. Syaoran's eyes widened.

_Why the hell is she just standing there!?_ "Sakura do something!"

At the last second Sakura drew her sword and blocked the blow. Because the bandit was so shocked by her speed and swiftness he wasn't putting his strength into his attack anymore and Sakura was able to push him back, then she turned and elbowed him in the ribs. As he doubled over clutching his sore ribs she cracked him over the head with the hilt of her sword so as not to kill him. He slumped to the ground unconscious. Sakura stood ready. Syaoran stood there in shock, stopping his constant struggling for a minute. He couldn't believe how fast Sakura had just moved and how the only way she really held back was that she knocked him out instead of killing him or at least seriously injuring him like most would. If Syaoran didn't know that Sakura was the Princess of the Kinomoto kingdom for a fact he would have actually thought that she was a real knight.

"So who's next?" she asked nonchalantly.

Yoshi clapped his big hands in amusement. "Excellent, a flawless victory. But the fight has only just begun!"

Another man stepped forward and Sakura took him down. Normally she wouldn't be so aggressive, but seeing that her and Syaoran's lives were at stake, and she was still really upset about actually believing that Syaoran had changed and that he might even have feelings for her just to have that flushed down the toilet this was a great way to vent all that anger. Unfortunately as the fighting continued it started to get unfair (not that it already wasn't). For every time Sakura fought one of the bandits she'd lose some of her strength and stamina where as her opponent was always a new guy ready to fight. Syaoran noticed that slowly but surely Sakura was starting to lose. She had a few cuts on her arms and legs where one of the bandit's swords would knick her. She was really starting to lose her energy.

"Hang in there Sakura! I know you can do this!" he said trying to encourage her.

Sakura turned her head to Syaoran and smiled. Maybe he had changed, if just a little. He never would have said that to her before anyway. Sakura faced Yoshi again, sword ready. Amano stepped forward.

"Let me handle this, I know her weakness!"

He charged at Sakura and locked his sword with hers.

"You're only good because you're fast, when it comes to strength you're no match for me!"

"Well done Amano!" Yoshi cheered for his lackey.

Sakura gritted her teeth, he was right.

_There's only one thing I can do._

She quit pushing forward and started to fall backwards, Amano fell forward with her since he had been pushing towards her. As they fell, she stuck her foot in his stomach and pushed up, flipping him over her head into the wall headfirst, knocking him out. His sword just grazed her shoulder, but that was a lot better than what could have happened. Sakura got back up, and stood ready.

"Very impressive, especially for a girl. You've taken out seven of my men and you've hardly been touched. So let's see if you can defeat Curtor."

Sakura blinked. "Who?"

Yoshi snapped his fingers and a giant gate behind his chair opened. Sakura's eyes widened as a giant griffin stepped out and stopped next to Yoshi. The griffin was quite a sight. The front half was that of an eagle and the back half was that of a lion.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding . . ." Sakura said dryly, "you said I had to fight your men! This is a monster!"

Yoshi smirked confidently. "This is Curtor, my pet griffin. He is male and he's part o the gang so technically he counts. He only listens to me, as my men do. If you can defeat him, then you can leave. Of course, no ones ever beaten him before, and I doubt you'll be an exception."

"We'll see about that. I did beat a giant scorpion once so don't underestimate me," she stated matter-of-factly.

Though Sakura had beaten the giant scorpion, Syaoran was busy distracting it. Plus Sakura knew she was wearing down. She didn't really think she could take the griffin on, but she wasn't about to let bandit boss know that. Yoshi patted Curtor's head then he pointed at Sakura.

"Curtor, attack!"

The griffin jumped off the platform and landed in front of Sakura. The ground shook so bad she fell, but immediately got back up. The griffin slashed at her with his claws but she moved and sliced his paw open. The griffin howled in pain and turned. Sakura couldn't move in time as its tail whipped at her and knocked her into the near by wall.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Syaoran growled.

Kero was still in the bag peeking out. _Oh no Sakura's in real trouble! __I don't want to see her get hurt!_

Sakura propped herself up on her sword as the griffin walked towards her.

_This is it, I'm done for._

Right as the griffin reached her, Kero flew out of her backpack.

"That's it, I'm coming to help you Sakura!"

Syaoran stared at Kero as he flew towards Sakura.

"Are you joking!? What the hell can you do?!" he shouted after the little sprite.

Kero stopped in front of Sakura and spread his paws out in front of him as if to tell the griffin to back off. Yoshi and the rest of the gang roared with laughter.

"Well this is rich, a forest sprite against a griffin!"

Suddenly Sakura's pendant started to glow. She looked down at it.

"What the?!"

Everybody watched Sakura as her aura started to glow pink around her, then her crystal started to direct her aura to Kero.

"What's going on!?" I feel incredible strong!" he shouted half exhilarated, half freaked out.

Suddenly his little wings grew huge and wrapped around him. When his wings unwrapped he was a huge lion-like beast.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Yoshi bellowed.

"No way! What happened to me?!" Kero (or should I say Keroberos) asked in a deep, shocked voice.

"I don't know, but you actually look cool," Syaoran admitted.

Keroberos glared over at him.

"Kero you've changed . . . " Sakura said faintly.

He looked at Sakura as she fell to the floor.

"Oh no Sakura! Are you okay!?" the beast asked.

"Kero the griffin!" Syaoran reminded him.

He quickly turned back to the Griffin.

"That's right! First I'll take care of you!"

Keroberos led the griffin away from Sakura and back into the middle or the room. As they fought, things started to get destroyed do to their size. Eventually the whole cave started to collapse.

"Let's get out of here!" Amano cried running for the exit.

The rest of the bandits started running around in confusion trying to get out of the cave.

"Cowards come back here!" Yoshi demanded.

The guys holding Syaoran had let go of him to run. He immediately ran over to Sakura and tried to arouse her.

"Sakura! Sakura!"

Suddenly a piece of the cave that was right above them came loose and started to fall.

"Oh shit!"

Syaoran scooped Sakura up and jumped out of the way. Still holding her he ran over to Kero who had just blown a fireball at the griffin.

"Kero we have to get out of here now!"

Keroberos nodded his head. "Right, get on my back!"

Syaoran climbed onto Keroberos' back and held on tight, Sakura still in his arms. Keroberos immediately flew out of the cave. As soon as they were out the cave completely collapsed.

"Kero go back to Pandora!" Syaoran instructed.

"Right!"

Kero continued to fly towards Pandora as Syaoran looked down at Sakura's still form.

"Sakura what happened to you? What's going on?"

End chapter 5.

A/N: Well that's it for chapter 5. I'll try not to take so long getting the next installment up but I have a lot of theory papers to write this semester and they are VERY time consuming (took like 12 or so HOURS to write the first one and almost everyone in the class took that long. At least I got an A- though, theory isn't really my thing so I was happy) so that takes away from my fanfic writing unfortunately . . . Anyway see-ya in chapter 6 :)

_SakuraJade_


	6. Sakura's Departure

**A/N:** Well, we're getting pretty close to the end. My fics don't usually have very many chapters b/c I make my chapters so long (although this one isn't super long). The stories are a still a pretty decent length I would say they just don't look super long since they don't have a lot of chapters. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, especially those that have reviewed multiple times. I really appreciate the feedback! Anyway here's the next installment of Sakura and Syaoran's journey!

_Disclaimer:_ "I do not own Cardcaptors/Cardcaptor Sakura, CLAMP does, so there. Also Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) owns the name Lofty Mountains; it comes from their game Secret of Mana."

" means spoken word

_italics_ means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N, etc.

**Learning To Love**

_Chapter 6: Sakura's Departure_

Keroberos was still flying towards the village of Pandora, Syaoran and Sakura on his back, when he started to feel weird.

"Uh-oh."

Syaoran looked at him. "What do you mean 'uh-oh'?! What's wrong?!"

"I feel strange."

And at that moment Kero shrunk back down to his normal size causing Syaoran and Sakura to plunge towards the ground. Syaoran wrapped his arms around his unconscious companion as they hit the dirt, absorbing most of the shock. He sat up with Sakura and grimaced.

"Uhhhh, my aching back . . . Normal people aren't meant to go through all this crap."

Syaoran heard some muffled shouts coming from underneath him. He moved over to see Kero lying where he had been sitting.

"Oh sorry about that Kero."

"Ugh, I'm going to feel that one tomorrow . . ." he whined as he pealed himself off the ground.

"Are you okay?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he replied flying a bit crooked, his eyes still semi-swirled, "what about you two?"

"Well I'll live, but define okay for Sakura. I mean, she's fine from the fall, but I still don't know what happened to her back there at the Griffin Claw's hid-out," Syaoran said, worry etched into his face.

"Yeah I know. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to me and why I shrank back."

Syaoran sighed, "Well our best bet in finding out is Sakura. So let's get her back to Pandora, find out what's wrong with her, and ask her when she wakes up."

"Good plan."

"Of course it is," Syaoran said smugly.

Lucky for them, Kero was able to make it to the outskirts of Pandora before he shrunk, so they didn't have to go far. Syaoran picked Sakura up and headed for Pandora. When they got there they were immediately greeted by Kesuke, the village "elder".

"Welcome back, how-what happened to your friend?" Kesuke cut himself off after he saw Sakura in Syaoran's arms.

"That's what I'd like to know. Your village is safe. What was left of the Griffin Claws ran away when their hide-out was destroyed."

A deafening cheer rang out through the crowd that had formed.

"Now could you please direct me to the inn, I need to put Sakura down," Syaoran said impatiently.

"Certainly, you don't even have to pay you can stay there for free since you helped us. Of course, I'll still pay you as well. Come, follow me this way," Kesuke replied motioning for Syaoran to follow him.

"Thank you."

After setting Sakura down in one of the rooms and having the doctor come in and dress her wounds, Syaoran, Kero, and Kesuke went out into the hallway so as not to disturb her. There Syaoran started to explain to Kesuke what had happened at the hide-out.

"My, that is strange," was all Kesuke could think to say.

"Yeah and Sakura's been like that since. We can't figure out what happened to her."

"Well let's see," Kesuke scratched his head in thought, "you said that her pendant started to glow and so did she. Then her glow was transferred to Kero, correct?"

Syaoran nodded his head, "Right. And then Kero grew into a huge beast the same size as the griffin."

Kesuke put his hand on his chin and started at the floor in concentration. "That's it. It's got to be. . ."

"'What's' it?" Kero asked joining the conversation.

"It sounds like Sakura transferred her power and energy into Kero so he could morph into that giant beast to fight the griffin, thus leaving her completely drained of all her energy," Kesuke said, an thoughtful look on his face, "At least that's my theory."

"I suppose that makes sense," Syaoran admitted.

"But why would that suddenly happen?" the young prince questioned the 'elder.'

"Well, from what you've told me we can deduce that Sakura is a very special girl with mysterious powers. Maybe the shard could sense that its owner was in danger and that was its solution to the problem, to lend Kero Sakura's aura temporarily to save her."

"I'm more concerned about Sakura not what happened. Will she be alright?" Kero asked.

"I think so," Kesuke answered, "with a little rest she should recover her energy and be fine."

Sakura stirred as she heard voices outside in the hallway. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

"What the, where am I?"

Just than Syaoran and Kero entered the room arguing as usual.

"You are too."

"I am not!" Syaoran argued back.

"Yes you are! You're jealous that I can barrow Sakura's powers so that means we have a special bond and YOU don't!" Kero said rubbing it in.

He stuck his tongue out and Syaoran rolled his eyes in response.

Sakura stared at her hands folded in her lap and sighed.

_So it's always been about my power with Kero too. This totally sucks. I don't want to do this anymore, not with the two of them. They don't even really care about me . . ._

"Sakura you're awake!" Syaoran exclaimed.

He noticed Sakura sitting up in the bed while she was lost in her thoughts. He couldn't help but smile. Sakura looked up as he quickly walked over to her, followed by Kero. She decided to try and act natural.

_I can't take this anymore, but I don't want them to get suspicious so I'll just act like everything is fine. First chance I get I am so out of here. I don't need their help I can do this on my own.  
_  
"Are you okay?!"

"Yeah we were really worried about you!" Kero added.

_I'll bet, worried about losing my power maybe . . ._

"I'm fine. Just a little tired," she answered meekly.

Syaoran and Kero sighed.

"Well that's a relief," Kero smiled.

"Yeah I thought I might have lost you for good."

Syoaran's face turned bright red as he realized what he just said. Sakura looked at him questioningly while Kero raised one eyebrow.

_He actually sounded like he was genuinely concerned about me . . ._

Sakura shrugged that thought off and tried not to think of what Syaoran just said.

"So what happened?"

Syaoran and Kero once again retold the story of what happened to her.

"I see," was all she had to say.

At that moment there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Syaoran said.

Kesuke opened the door and stepped in. "I just came to bring you the money-oh you're awake!" he said when he saw Sakura sitting up in the bed, "Well that's excellent. We were all really worried about you Miss Sakura."

"Oh please don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. After all, I've got a fiancé to marry in a few weeks so I'm not going anywhere."

Syaoran looked away when she said that and Kero noticed a ting of jealousy in his eyes.

"Ah, well in that case, congratulations. Anyway, thank you for saving our village. Here this is the reward money. You two earned it."

Kesuke set the small pouch of gold coins on the table next to Sakura's bed.

"It's not much, but we all hope it helps you in your journey," he said sincerely.

Sakura smiled, "Thank you."

Kesuke turned to leave, but stopped to say something.

"You two should get some sleep. It's late and if you want to continue your journey as soon as possible then you're going to need a lot of rest."

Kesuke exited the room while Syaoran sat down on the bed next to Sakura's.

"He's right you know. We really should get some sleep. We need to continue our original mission as soon as possible and we can't do that unless we rest up."

"All right."

Kero curled up on Sakura's pillow as she laid back down. Syaoran got ready for bed and also turned in for the night.

XXXXXX

Sakura sat up and got out of bed quietly. It was so early that the room was still bathed in moonlight. She opened the sack of gold Kesuke gave them and only took a small handful of coins, then she strapped her sword back onto her waist and put her backpack on her shoulders. She opened the door to their room and took one last look at Kero and Syaoran.

_Syaoran looks so cute when he's asleep. It almost makes me want to stay, almost._

"Good-bye Syaoran, and good luck," she whispered.

And with that Sakura shut the door behind her and left Pandora alone. A few hours later Syoaran awoke, the sun shining high in the late morning sky.

He sat up and stretched, "Nothing like a good nights sleep."

He turned to see if Sakura was awake yet and was confronted with an empty bed that was already made, Kero fast asleep on the pillow. At first he just assumed that she had already gotten up and was using the bathroom or eating breakfast downstairs, but then he spotted a small piece of white paper lying on her bed. He immediately threw back his covers and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress. When he reached Sakura's bed he picked up the paper and scanned it quickly.

Syaoran and Kero:

Thanks for all your help, but I can handle things on my own from here. You guys can go home, or anywhere else you want for that matter. Don't worry about me, I don't think the crystal is much farther so I should have no problem finding it and destroying it myself. Just in case I never see you again, I wanted to let you know, despite our differences, I'm still glad I got the chance to meet you Syaoran, you too Kero. Good luck in the future.

Love,

_Sakura_

Syaoran re-read the letter to make sure it was real. His hands dropped to his sides as he stared at the floor trying to confirm what the letter meant.

"Sakura . . . "

"Kero! Kero get up we have a problem!" Syaoran started shouting intent on waking the still sleeping forest sprite.

"Another slice of cake please . . ."

Kero rolled away from Syaoran and continued to sleep. The irritated teen gritted his teeth in frustration.

"I said get up you stupid stuffed animal!"

Syaoran slammed his hands on the pillow Kero was sleeping on. The little furry critter soared into the air and landed on the ground with a thud. He immediately flew up and started rubbing his butt with his tiny arms.

"Ouch!"

He looked up and saw Syaoran glaring at him. He flew into Syaoran's face and started yelling.

"What the hell's your problem you brat!?"

Syaoran opened his mouth to yell, but then he noticed the empty bed behind Kero and remembered why he even woke Kero in the first place. His eyes softened and he sighed as he looked down at the floor.

"Sakura's gone."

"I can't-what did you say?!"

"Sakura's gone," he repeated solemnly.

Syaoran held up the note she left. "When I woke up this morning her bed was already made and this note was lying on it."

Kero snatched the note from Syaoran's hands and read it himself.

"I don't believe it! How could she do this!?"

Syaoran shrugged his shoulders. "I knew she was acting funny earlier, but why? I still don't have a clue what was wrong with her . . ."

"Well what are we gonna do?! We can't let her go alone, what if she gets hurt!?"

Syaoran put his hand to his forehead.

"I know I know, just give me a minute to think."

Kero crossed his arms over his chest. "Kid it's going to take you more than a minute to think up anything worth listening to."

Syaoran just shot him a glare and went back to thinking.

"We gotta think of a way to find her," Kero said stating the obvious.

"Well, I can track her aura, but the farther she gets the harder it is to track her. Plus we don't even know what direction she's headed in."

"Hello! She went to go find that dumb crystal thing!"

"Yeah I know, but I don't know where it is! Only Sakura can find it with her crystal shard necklace!" Syaoran shot back.

"Oh," Kero said dumbly.

"Let's get going. Once we leave town maybe I'll be able to pick up traces of her aura."

"Yeah and as soon as we do we gotta haul ass to try and catch up to her. I don't want anything bad to happen to her," Kero said seriously.

"You think I do?" Syaoran asked rhetorically as he put his sword on and grabbed his backpack.

He saw the sack of coins Kesuke had given them the night before still laying on the table.

_She even left us most of the money we got from Kesuke . . . _he thought absentmindedly.

He stared at the sack a second more before he snatched it off the table and chucked it in his backpack. Then he headed for the door, Kero in tow. On their way out of the hotel they ran into Kesuke who was on his way to see them. When he asked where Sakura was they explained the letter. He wished them luck in finding her and completing their original mission. They said their goodbyes then set out to find their missing companion.

XXXXXX

Back at the Kinomoto castle (**A/N:** I know, it's been a while lol), Tojo was staring into his magic portal window talking to Shiro Morisaka, his Lieutenant.

"What do you mean you can't find them?! How hard can it be to capture two spoiled brats!?"

Shiro bowed. "I'm sorry sir, but we haven't seen a trace of them since we lost them near the village of Mead."

Unbeknown to general, Tomoyo, Eriol, and Meilin were all outside his door listening in. The door wasn't shut all the way so they could see him through the crack. They were only eavesdropping because they were eager for any news about Sakura and Syaoran. Apparently Tojo still hadn't been able to get his hands on them so they were safe. Irritated at the situation, he slammed his hands on the table in front of him starting Tomoyo. She went to step back in surprise, but Eriol was there so she knocked into him. They both fell over, Tomoyo landing on Eriol. Her face took on a scarlet hue as she started getting up, whispering an apology as she stood.

"Oh gosh Eriol, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall on you!"

Eriol got up as well, his own cheeks slightly tinted.

"It's quite all right Tomoyo. Accidents happen."

He took her hand and kissed it. "Besides, I find nothing wrong with a beautiful lady falling on me."

Tomoyo cheeks reddened even more. Meilin was watching them with her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed.

"Will you two cut it out! This is not the time to be flirting!" she reminded them.

Over the past week, Eriol, Tomoyo, and Meilin had become rather close. After all, they were the only three trapped in the castle that were sixteen. They had done a lot of talking and sneaking around like they were doing right now. As the week progressed, Meilin had noticed Eriol and Tomoyo were growing closer together, and it wasn't in a friendship kind of way. But that was fine with her because even though Syaoran and Sakura hadn't gotten off very well at first she was hoping that they would mend their problems and fall in love while searching for that crystal. It's not that she didn't like Sakura and Eriol together, after all they were cute, she just thought that Sakura and Syaoran were cuter and for some reason those two together just seemed to fit better. Just as she thought Eriol and a certain girl by the name of Tomoyo seemed made for each other.

Eroil looked at Meilin with a sly smile.

"Now don't tell me you're jealous Meilin?"

Meilin stomped her foot on the floor in irritation. How dare Eriol try and make her look like the fool?

"As if! You-"

"Who's there?!" Tojo's voice bellowed from inside the room.

The gang's eyes widened and they took off down the hallway. Tojo opened his door and looked outside his room. When he was sure nobody was there he returned to the portal.

"Your news displeases me Shiro, I'm most disappointed," he growled.

Shiro bowed low in an effort to apologize to his leader.

"Sir we've heard rumors that the hideout of the infamous Griffin Claw gang was destroyed recently and we think it might have to do with the prince and princess so I am scouting the area with my troops as we speak-"

"I've had it with your incompetence," Tojo cut in, "I'm coming out to find them myself."

"But sir-"

"No buts. I'm tired of failures," he said then closed the portal.

The trio finally stopped running when they were sure they were a safe distance away. They all stopped to catch their breath.

"That . . . that was a. . . a close one . . ." Tomoyo huffed.

Eriol nodded. "Yeah it was."

"But at least we got to over hear him talking to that Shiro Mori-whatever his name is," Meilin pointed out.

"That's true," Eriol agreed, "Come on let's go tell the others what we heard."

Tomoyo, Meilin, and Eriol walked back to the main hall where the others were. Sonomi looked up when they entered the room and ran over to her daughter.

"Tomoyo where were you?! I was starting to get worried."

"Relax Mom I'm fine."

"We just went for a walk-"

"And to see if we could find out any news on Sakura and Syaoran," Eriol blurted out interrupting Meilin.

Everyone in the room was all ears when Eriol said that.

Nadeshiko placed her hand on his shoulder. "Please Eriol, tell us what you heard."

"Apparently Sakura and Syaoran have eluded Tojo's troops."

"Yeah they don't have a clue where they are," Tomoyo added.

Meilin smirked, "So we at least know Tojo hasn't caught them."

Fujitaka sighed, "Well that's a relief."

Toya nodded his head in agreement, "Sure is."

"Sakura's a strong girl," Yukito said flashing a warm smile, "I don't really know Syaoran but he looked like a dependable guy so I'm not surprised they're giving Tojo's troops the slip."

"Yes, I knew the two of them would make a great team. I have no doubt that they will complete their mission," Yelan stated matter-of-factly.

XXXXXX

Sakura was at the base of a rather large mountain chain. A sign nearby labeled them as the Lofty Mountains. She sized them up with her eyes. This was where her crystal necklace led her and because the mountain range seemed so big she guess that the crystal was probably hidden somewhere up in them.

"Wow. That's going to be one hell of a hike. Guess I'd better get started."

She began traveling up the mountain path, but not even ten minutes later she had to stop and take a break because it was such a steep climb. She leaned against part of the mountain and wiped her hand across her forehead.

"Phew, this is harder than I thought."

Since she had time to think she found her thoughts wondering to Syaoran. She didn't want to think of him but she couldn't help it. She hated to admit it but she already missed his company, Kero's too of course, but mostly Syaoran's. She sighed a bit in sadness.

"I wonder what they thought when they woke up," she said out loud feeling slightly guilty.

Sakura kicked a small stone that was by the rock wall of the mountain she was leaning on.

"I wonder if they're going to try and follow me . . ."

She tried to deny it but a part of her hoped that they would find her since she was starting to regret taking off on her own.

"Maybe ditching them wasn't such a good idea . . ."

Suddenly the ground started to rumble. Sakura grabbed onto a nearby boulder to keep herself up right.

"What the heck is going on!?" she shouted in surprise.

To her astonishment a giant green dragon came stomping around the corner of the mountain and stopped when it caught sight of her. It watched her intently and crouched down, its tail moving behind it. It looked like a cat ready to pounce on its prey. Sakura stared at it dumbfounded. Needless to say she was extremely shocked to see something so massive and with so many teeth staring at her. She most certainly wasn't expecting to run into a dragon. There was only one thought running through her head at that moment.

_I wish Syaoran was here with me._

She let go of the boulder and started to try and back away, but as soon as she moved, the dragon leapt at her.

_End chapter 6._

**A/N:** Well I'll leave it there for now. Sorry it's a little shorter than usual but I couldn't think of anything else to put in this chapter plus it seemed like a good place to stop. Please remember to take a minute and review if you can because like all authors I really do appreciate it! Anyway see-ya again in chapter 7 :)

_SakuraJade_


	7. Caught!

**A/N:** So here's chapter 7. I know when I first wrote this story several years ago that a year and a half pasted between posting chapter 6 and 7! I felt so bad about that but I had just started college and stuff and was really busy with that blah blah, blah. No posting that late this time around though right? lol It's only been about a month. Anyway not much else to say other than we're almost done! Hope everyone reading this story has been enjoying its development. Most of you dying for the Syaoran and Sakura fluff should enjoy the first couple pages for sure lol

" means spoken words

_italics_ means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N etc.

**Learning To Love**

_Chapter 7: Caught!_

Sakura closed her eyes sure she was about to meet her end as the grass-green dragon rushed at her.

"Sakura look out!"

She swiftly turned to see Syaoran and Kero heading towards her. Short on time and ideas, Syaoran took his sword out and hurled it at the massive, scaly green dragon. His sword managed to become embedded in its left eye. The dragon stopped in its tracks and raised its head up in pain, roaring as it scratched at its wounded eye. Sakura wasted no time. While the dragon was distracted with Syaoran's sword, she pulled out hers and rammed it into the breast of the intimidating beast, piercing its heart. The dragon groaned and fell over on its side, dead. Syaoran walked over and pulled his sword from the dragon's eye, while Kero flew at Sakura and hugged her upper arm. She was torn between whether she should be happy they found her or angry.

"Sakura! Oh I'm so glad you're okay! But . . . how could you leave me with that brat?!" Kero whined, still nuzzling her arm.

"Hey!" Syaoran yelled shooting the forest sprite an icy look.

"Why didn't you take me with you?!" he continued ignoring the daggers Syaoran was glaring at him.

"I'm sorry Kero, but-"

Syaoran suddenly started looking at her with a serious look on his face that cut her off.

"Sakura are you okay?"

"Yes I'm fine," she answered stiffly.

Syaoran sighed in relief.

"Good," he said, then he stomped towards her, anger radiating from him, "so what the HELL were you thinking, taking off on your own like that!?"

Sakura looked down at the ground as she subconsciously clenched her fists in agitation.

"You sure got a lot of nerve yelling at me," she mumbled through clenched teeth, "As if you really don't know."

"What are you talking about!?" he spat in both fury and confusion.

Sakura looked up at him with tears of sadness and distrust brimming in her green eyes. The sight deflated him instantly.

"I heard the both of you! You don't really care about me! All you care about is using my spirit energy!"

"What!?" Syaoran breathed out, taken back, "Sakura you've got it all wrong!"

The princess tore her eyes away from his determined to finish what she had to say.

"I just want to end this stupid quest so I can go home and get on with my life and I don't need help from either of you two so you can just go-"

She stopped abruptly, caught off guard by Syaoran suddenly enveloping her in a hug. He held her tightly to him as he spoke.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you thought that but it's not true. I care about you so much. You're my first real friend. If anything happened to you I don't know what I'd do," he whispered sincerely, tightening his grip slightly, "we started this journey together and that's how we'll finish it, okay?"

He pulled back at arms length to look at the watery-eyed princess. He wiped her tears away with his hand and smiled at her, his heartfelt words and gesture surprising her more.

"There, that's better."

"Oh Syaoran . . ." she sniffled, "I'm so sorry!" she cried out as she flung herself back into his arms, "I'm sorry I misjudged you."

"Shhhh . . . it's okay Sakura," he said gently trying to comforter.

Kero looked from Syaoran to Sakura then flew between them.

"Yeah group hug!"

Sakura started to giggle soon followed by a hearty laugh from Syaoran.

"It's nice to be one happy team again," Kero beamed.

Sakura smiled genuinely, "Yeah, it-"

Sakura was cut off by the sound of someone clapping their hands together. The three of them quickly turned around to see Tojo clapping. Shiro was standing behind him along with some of the other soldiers. Syaoran kept his arms around Sakura shoulders protectively, her hands still resting on his firm chest. Her face reflected her shock at actually seeing Tojo standing in front of them while Syaoran's reflected contempt.

"Well, well, well, isn't that sweet?" he said darkly, "Friends once again, and to think you two probably never would have even become friends if it wasn't for me."

Tojo looked like he was going to wretch. "How disgusting, tender moments make me sick."

He looked them up and down, taking their position into account, before raising an eye brow.

"Although from the way you two are standing one might think your relationship has surpassed that of friendship. Tsk, tsk, tsk, princess," he pretended to reprimand her, "That's not very loyal of you. What would your fiancé think? Not that it matters since you'll never see him again," he finished donning a malicious smile.

Syaoran finally found his voice. "You!"

Tojo vile grin widened. "Me."

"How did you find us!?" he demanded.

"My boy I'm aiming to rule this entire world and you're surprised that I was able to find the two of you? Really . . ." Tojo rolled his eyes, "the only reason I didn't come after you sooner myself is because I don't like dirtying my own hands but apparently good help is hard to find after all."

Tojo shot Shiro a look causing his Lieutenant to bow his head in embarrassment. Kero looked from Sakura to Syaoran.

"Uh, what's going on? Who is this guy?"

"I am Tojo Yamada, soon to be in control of this world," he answered as he eyed Kero suspiciously, "And what, exactly, are you?"

"To them I'm a forest sprite but to you I'm your worst nightmare!"

Kero rushed at Tojo and Sakura's crystal started to glow but before Kero could transform Shiro grabbed him. Sakura's crystal instantly stopped glowing and she fell to her knees. Syaoran knelt down next to her.

"Sakura, are you all right?" he asked, his voice oozing with concern.

"Yeah, Kero didn't get to use my aura so I'm okay."

Shiro was still holding Kero. They were glaring at each other.

"Sir, what should I do with this thing?"

"Dispense of it," was his boss' simple reply.

Shiro smiled, "With pleasure."

Nervousness flashed over Kero's face.

"Uh, can't we talk this over, please?"

Sakura jumped to her feet, "No! Don't hurt him!" she cried.

Tojo put his hand up to stop Shiro, who was ready to squeeze the life out of the fuzzy, yellow sprite. Shiro saw Tojo's hand and stopped. He gave Kero a dirty look who grinned back sheepishly.

"Please let Kero go," she pleaded, "he doesn't really have anything to do with this."

"Oh but it seems he does. Everything happens for a reason," Tojo replied matter-of-factly, "Apparently, from what he was attempting to do a minute ago, your little friend is intertwined with that crystal shard of yours, which means that you were fated to meet. And if I just let him go now I'm sure it will come back to bite me in the ass. But since I have no use for him I'll cut you a deal."

Sakura already knew where this was going but she asked anyway.

"What kind of a deal?"

Tojo grinned devilishly, "You cooperate with me and do as I say and I'll not only let your rodent go but I'll let your new boyfriend live too."

"Sakura don't do it," Syaoran urged, "you know he's lying! It's like making a deal with the devil, no matter what he'll win and you'll lose!"

Sakura turned to her male companion and said steadily, "But I can't sentence you two to death either."

"Don't worry about me!" Kero shouted, "Don't-"

Shiro tightened his grip on Kero to cut his sentence short.

"Either way I am going to get what I want. Depending on you your friends can either be alive to see it or not."

Two of the side soldiers grabbed Syaoran.

"Get off of me!" he ordered but to no avail.

"Well princess?" Tojo drooled.

Sakura looked at Kero who was starting to turn blue.

"Okay I'll do it," she finally announced.

"Sakura no!" Syaoran yelled begging her in his mind to reconsider.

"Excellent," Tojo purred, a toothy grin spreading across his despicable face.

He turned back to Shiro.

"Tie that thing up so he can't cause any trouble. We wouldn't want any mishaps to occur when we are so close to our goal."

"Right," Shiro agreed as he got out a small piece of rope and wrapped it around Kero's small body.

"Comfy?" he asked his prisoner sarcastically.

"Well actually-"

He tightened it some more. "Good."

Tojo approached Sakura and waved his hand forward.

"Lead the way princess."

She glared at him and started walking, Tojo following close behind her. Syaoran was pushed to move next followed by 2 soldiers while the rest of the soldiers and Shiro brought up the rear with poor Kero slung over his shoulder grumbling about animal cruelty.

XXXXXX

Back at the Kinomoto castle Toya finished locking up the last of Tojo's soldiers that had been left behind at the castle. He stuck the key in his pocket and dusted off his hands. Fujitaka patted Toya's back.

"Good job my son, very good!"

Yukito nodded in agreement, "Yeah Toya that was pretty impressive."

Toya had a cocky smile plastered to his face.

"It was nothing. Tojo might have only taken a small amount of soldiers with him but he took the best ones he's got. The one's he left to guard us were a joke, especially with Eriol and Meilin's help," he said jerking his head at the pair.

Meilin grinned at the praise.

"Yes you were all marvelous," Nadeshiko raved relieved to have control of the castle back.

"Thanks your majesty but like Toya said it was nothing," Meilin said waving her hand,  
I'm just glad I've been learning martial arts since I was born."

"And I'm just happy that I was able to protect the ones I care about," Eriol admitted.

He quickly glanced at Tomoyo who blushed and looked away. He too looked away hoping no one would notice.

Sonomi sighed, "It is quite a relief having Tojo out of here. I haven't been able to relax in days."

"Yes but let's hope he doesn't find Syaoran and Sakura or our situation will become much worse," Yelan reminded the group.

"Oh I'm so worried about those two!" Tomoyo cried, "I don't know what I'll do if I never get to see Sakura again!"

Though that was true Tomoyo couldn't help but feel a ting of jealousy caused by her best friend. As much as Tomoyo loved Sakura and wanted her to be happy she didn't think it was fair that Sakura was going to get to marry such a great guy like Eriol while she on the other hand was still alone. It didn't seem like Sakura even really loved Eriol so she didn't deserve him. Tomoyo found herself wishing she could have him instead. She knew it was a greedy, selfish thing to think but she couldn't help it. If she could just be with the man Sakura was promised to then she'd never ask for another thing.

_What am I thinking?!_ She scolded herself. Then she sighed. _It doesn't matter how I feel anyway . . . I saw how Eriol looked at Sakura the night of the ball and . . . how he kissed her. He must love her so it's not like I stand a chance anyway . . ._

Unbeknown to Tomoyo, Eriol had similar thoughts of his own.

_I'm worried about Sakura's safety just as much as anyone else here but I don't really miss her. I did at first but now . . . the only person I really think about is Tomoyo . . ._

"Well," Fujitaka spoke up, "Sakura and Syaoran have come this far so I am confident that they will return safely with their mission accomplished."

"Yes I suppose your right," Yelan said.

"Yes and as soon as Sakura returns we will hold the wedding between her and Eriol," Nadeshiko added thinking it would help lighten the mood a bit more. After all who didn't love a wedding?

Tomoyo and Eriol immediately turned to look at the queen of the Kinomoto kingdom in confusion.

"Uh, but I thought we were going to wait a month? It's only been a little over a week," Eriol pointed out not understanding the sudden need to bump the wedding up.

"Well we were," the king admitted, "but I want this wedding to take place before anything else can happen and we have to postpone it."

"I agree, unless this is a problem for some reason Prince Eriol," the queen asked.

Sakura's parents gave him an expectant look that dared him to disagree with them.

A small sweat drop formed on his forehead, "Um, no, of course not."

Nadeshiko smiled excitedly, "Wonderful! Come dear let's start planning this wedding!"

The king and queen took off to do just that. Tomoyo looked around wanting to be anywhere but there.

"Excuse me, I . . . just excuse me."

She quickly walked off in the opposite direction that Sakura's parents went.

"Dear?" her mother called after her, confused at her daughter's sudden exit.

Meilin looked at Eriol, who was watching Tomoyo go. Then she ran after her.

"Tomoyo! Hey wait up!"

Meilin finally caught up with the Daidouji princess outside in the castle gardens. Tomoyo was sitting on a bench with her hands over her face. Meilin approached her slowly. When she was right in front of Tomoyo she cleared her throat to make her presence known.

"Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo made a squeak of surprise as she looked up at Meilin obviously startled.

"Oh Meilin, you scarred me."

She quickly wiped her eyes. "So what's up?"

"Tomoyo why are you crying?" the ruby-eyed girl asked straight forward.

"I'm not," she lied even though it was obvious that she was.

"Yes you are. What's wrong?" Meilin pressed.

Tomoyo looked away.

"I just really miss Sakura that's all."

"Lair."

The raven-haired princess looked taken back. "I beg your pardon?"

"Missing Sakura isn't a lie," Meilin admitted as she took a seat next to Tomoyo, "I'm sure of that. However that's not the reason you're crying and you know it."

Tomoyo looked down at her delicate hands that were neatly folded in her lap.

"You're sad about Sakura marrying Eriol aren't you? You . . . You want to be his bride," Meilin bluntly stated.

Tomoyo couldn't hold it back; she started crying into her hands again. Meilin quickly put her arms around the distraught girl and pulled her into a hug. The melancholy princess continued to cry on Meilin's shoulder.

"Yes I do," she admitted with a sniffle, "and I feel so bad about it too since I know it's wrong! I'm a bad person . . ."

"No, you're not," Meilin assured her as she tightened her hold on the depressed girl, "You're not a bad person for loving someone. Besides, it's not like you're trying to steal Eriol from Sakura."

_Even though in a way I think you are__ stealing him without even realizing it_ she thought to herself.

"Of course not. I would never want to hurt Sakura or Eriol."

"Well the way I see it, everyone would be a lot happier if you and Eriol did get together."

Tomoyo raised her head to look at her friend questioningly. Meilin simply winked at her in response.

_End Chapter 7._

**A/N:** Yay, Sakura and Syaoran are already back together! See? It wasn't so bad she took off in the last chapter, they already caught back up to her lol Of course Tojo has too, uh-oh . . . Sorry this chapter wasn't that great but I had to split it. See I was going to just make this story one more chapter the first time around but I was at 22 pages and I was still not done. So since it was getting a little long I decide to split the last of the story into about three, 10 page chapters instead. So there are two more and this story is finished! Well that's all for this chapter. Don't forget to review if you could because they really are appreciated :) I've loved all your reviews so far. See-ya again in chapter 8, which will be up relatively soon because I go on Christmas break in two weeks and will have plenty of time to fiddle around with my stories :)

_SakuraJade_


	8. The Crystal of Power

**A/N:** Hey everyone, here's the update over my winter break that I promised! Sorry it's so late but I did a CCS Christmas fic and I was working on that constantly to keep up with Christmas. If you are a reader of Holiday Hoax I'm really sorry I haven't finished it yet but I've been really sick and busy working with my mom for New Year's Eve (she's a balloon decorator so New Years is big. We just did a $12,000 dollar job at the Casino boats in the area) as well as for Target. I still feel really icky and worn out so I just don't have it in me to update Holiday Hoax right now but this was already done it just needed to be proof read so I figured I could at least update this one. I hope everyone has a happy new year. I'm going to watch the fireworks display in a nearby town and then go to bed since I'm sick, oh well. Anyway here's the second to last chapter!

" means spoken words

_italics_ means thoughts

( means insert sound, movement, A/N etc.

**Learning To Love**

_Chapter 8: The Crystal of Power_

Sakura and Syaoran were standing in front of a dark tunnel at the very top of the Lofty Mountains. Tojo and his soldiers were standing behind them. A vibrant glow was emanating from Sakura's crystal shard. They had found what they were looking for.

"Finally, this is it. This is where the crystal of power resides," Tojo stated.

Syaoran leaned towards Sakura and whispered.

"It sure doesn't look like its being guarded by anything."

"I know," she replied in surprise.

Tojo roughly pushed Sakura forward into the pitch blackness of the cave.

"Get moving. I must have the crystal."

He walked in after her followed by Syaoran and the extra soldiers. Shiro and Kero brought up the rear.

"Hold me, I don't like the dark!" Kero whined as he started to squirm.

"Shut up," Shiro growled.

The cave was very deep, going far back into the mountains. It was completely dark so Tojo and his soldiers had to light makeshift torches so they could see where they were going. The tunnel started out pretty narrow but eventually it opened up. At the very end was a plain room and in the middle was a small, somewhat tall table made of rock. Floating above it, surrounded by a pillar of white light was an enormous red jewel that would require at least two hands to hold. Shiro stepped in and laughed.

"This is it? You must be joking! I can't believe that that crystal is the all-powerful jewel we've been searching for. If it's so special why was that dragon at the bottom of the mountain about the only thing to protect it?!"

Tojo smirked. He set his torch into one of the torch racks along the wall. The other soldiers did the same. Tojo turned to Shiro.

"If you think it's so un-special go retrieved it for me then."

"Fine," the Lieutenant grunted.

He dropped Kero on the floor.

"Hey you jerk that hurt!"

Ignoring Kero's complaint, Shiro approached the pillar of light. He paused and looked back at the General. Tojo waved his hand forward.

"I'm waiting."

Shiro hardened his face with determination and turned back to the crystal. He took a deep breath and reached for it. His hands never touched it. As soon as his hands came into contact with the pillar of light that surrounded it he was hit with such a strong and raw power that his body was flung back into the wall. Sakura and Syaoran jumped in surprise, while Tojo laughed out loud.

"Aha! You see?! The crystal doesn't need any protection around the cave because it's already completely untouchable thanks to its own shield."

Tojo looked at Sakura, his eyes shinning with desire for power.

"It is completely untouchable . . . except for one person and that's where you come into play Princess."

He grabbed Sakura around the arm and started dragging her with him. Syaoran tried to follow but one of the soldiers held him back. Tojo pushed the princess up to the crystal.

"Go on, touch it," he ordered.

Sakura hesitantly reached out one finger and stuck it into the light. Unlike Shiro, the light didn't reject her and her index finger touched the blood-red surface of the crystal with ease. She yanked her finger back immediately. She didn't like how it felt. The crystal was smooth and cold to her touch but Sakura could feel an energy emanating from the center of it. The energy felt awful and Sakura wanted to get as far away from it as possible. She tried to turn away from it but Tojo grabbed her shoulders and held her firmly in place.

"What's wrong princess?" he hissed.

"Let me go. I don't want to be anywhere near that . . . that evil thing."

Tojo lifted Sakura's necklace over her head and placed it in the palm of her hand then he wrapped his fingers tightly around hers so she couldn't drop it.

"Now place the shard into the crystal."

Sakura's eyes roved over the crystal and she noticed a small hole near the top where the shard would fit in perfectly. She started to struggle.

"No! I won't help you! Activating it will be a big mistake!"

Tojo wrapped his hand around her upper arm tightly and forced her arm towards the crystal making sure he stayed out of the light pillar. Sakura fought more in response.

"Be a good girl and do as I say!" he barked.

"I said no!" she screamed out angrily, "Syaoran help me!"

Syaoran started to struggle against the two soldiers that were now holding him back.

"Get your dirty hands off of her!" he yelled vehemently.

Kero was still tied up on the floor and squirming against the ropes that held him.

"Yeah leave her alone!"

Shiro had over come his shock and walked back over by the entrance. He punched Syaoran in the stomach causing him to double over.

"Sit still and watch General Tojo force your little girlfriend to help him quietly," he snarled.

Shiro flashed him a malicious smile before turning back towards the crystal. Syaoran felt completely helpless. Eventually Tojo got tired of struggling with Sakura and he turned to his right hand man.

"Shiro!" he called.

One look was all it took and Shiro knew what Tojo wanted him to do. Syaoran was still on his knees so Shiro kneeled down to his level. He pulled out his sword and put it to Syaoran's throat. Sakura froze in her tracks.

"Stop! Please don't hurt Syaoran!" she begged, bile rising in her throat at the thought of Shiro murdering him.

"Did you forget that we had collateral?" Tojo sneered. "If you don't cooperate with us then your friend dies!"

"Don't listen to him Sakura! What ever you do don't give in to him!" Syaoran cried in response, "Don't worry about me! What happens to our world is more important!"

"How can you expect me to not worry about you!?" she exclaimed. "You're my friend I can't just let you die. You're too important to me . . ." she said barely above a whisper.

Syaoran's eyes widened in surprise at Sakura's words; she turned to Tojo with her head hung in defeat.

"I'll do what you want, but you have to let Syaoran go alive."

"Why of course," he said with a wicked grin.

Sakura spotted Kero on the ground.

"Kero too," she added.

"You have my word," he replied, fake sincerity lacing his voice.

_We'll s__e__e what that's worth,_ she thought to herself.

Sakura looked at Syaoran one more time, her eyes brimming with tears and remorse.

"I'm sorry Syaoran," she whispered, choking back a sob.

She turned back to the crystal and raised the shard as she closed her eyes.

"Sakura no!" he yelled, desperate to stop her, to protect her.

_Please let everything be okay,_ she thought before she quickly jammed the shard into the hole.

Immediately the crystal shinned a brilliant red. Sakura felt a surge of energy run through her like she was being struck by lightning. She felt hot all over then she felt nothing. Everything went black for her. Her eyes glazed over and her body fell backwards towards the floor. Syaoran pulled with all his might and managed to rip free of the guards. He propelled himself forward intent on catching the princess. He held his arms out to break her fall, but right before she landed in them her body faded from existence. The pillar of light surrounding the crystal seemingly evaporated the minute she disappeared.

Syaoran's eyes grew wide with surprise and concern. Dropping to his knees he stared at his empty, outstretched arms.

"Sakura!!" he cried once he found his voice.

"What happened to her?!" Kero asked equally shocked.

Syaoran was so stunned by Sakura's disappearance that the guards he'd managed to pull away from were able to grab onto him once more. He didn't bother to fight them though he just knelt there disbelievingly.

With the crystal left unprotected, Tojo stepped up to the table and took hold of it. He felt the power flow through him.

"Yes! THIS is the power that I desire! I've never felt so strong, so powerful!"

Having come back to his senses Syaoran glared at Tojo.

"What did you do to Sakura?!" he demanded to know.

"I didn't do anything," Tojo replied simply, "Princess Sakura wasn't a normal person. The only reason she was born was to activate the crystal of power for me. Now that she's done it she no longer has a purpose so she simply ceased to exist in that form. Now she is one with the crystal."

"No . . ." he whispered completely devastated.

Syaoran remembered the discussion he had with Sakura a while back when they first started out.

_**(Flashback)**_

"Oh come on. It's so obvious something is bothering you, so why won't you tell me?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Sakura sighed; she might as well tell him.

"It's just . . . well . . . I was thinking about what that Shiro guy said . . . about how my only reason for existing is to activate that stupid crystal. And here we are on our way to destroy the one thing I was born for. And . . . once we do destroy it, what will happen to me? If the crystal is gone then I'll no longer have a purpose, so will I just cease to exist?"

Syaoran opened his mouth but nothing came out because he didn't know the answer to her questions. 

_**(End Flashback)**_

Syaoran realized that they seemed to have it backwards. Destroying the crystal didn't extinguish her existence in this world, activating it did.

"It's not fair!" he shouted bitterly.

Tojo smiled menacingly, "That's life."

He turned to one of the cave walls.

"Now let's see what this thing can do!"

Tojo had to only think what he wanted and the crystal would react. In response to his thoughts it shot a red beam from itself. The beam hit the wall and exploded a huge chunk out if it. The General laughed like a maniac at the power he now possessed.

"Look at the destructive powers! And that's only the beginning! Again! I want to see more!"

Tojo started aiming it all over the cave and shooting it at random just to see the destruction it could cause. The soldiers holding Syaoran dropped his arms and started to back away.

"Let's get out of here!" one cried.

The other nodded his head. "The general's lost it!"

Shiro turned to yell at them as they were fleeing the cave with the rest of the men,

"Cowards! Come back here! How dare you desert General Tojo!"

Syaoran's eyes widened as one of the red beams shot towards him. He jumped out of the way barely dodging it. Shiro was still yelling after the other guards as another beam was released. The crimson beam of light hit him square in the back and disintegrated him before he even knew what had happened. Syaoran's eyes widened in shock; Kero had seen Shiro die too.

"Man he's out of control!" the forest sprite said stating the obvious.

"Yeah I can see that!" Syaoran snapped back.

"More power! More destruction!" Tojo bellowed.

The crystal was indeed powerful but just as Sakura had said it was evil. It had consumed Tojo's sanity and because he was only concerned with destruction he didn't even realize that he had killed Shiro or that his other soldiers had abandoned him to save themselves. He didn't even seem to notice that he was bringing the cave down around himself. Syaoran was sure that Tojo was so consumed by the crystal that he didn't even realize he and Kero were still there.

_Even though Tojo's supposed to be all powerful he's so fixated on the crystal that he's not paying attention to anything. Maybe stopping him won't be impossible. If I could just-_

Syaoran's thoughts were cut off as part of the cave's ceiling came apart above him due to the crystal and threatened to prematurely end his life. He quickly sprang to the side to avoid the mass of rock. Rubble was also falling around Kero. Unfortunately for him it was hard to get anywhere since he was still tied up.

"Kid you'd better stop him soon or we're goners!"

Syaoran unsheathed his sword and made his way quickly towards Tojo, who was still laughing like a maniac and babbling about absolute power as he continued to shoot the crystal all over the cave. Syaoran had to dodge falling rock left and right but he eventually managed to maneuver his way behind Tojo. Without a second thought he rammed his sword through Tojo's back pushing so hard it emerged through his chest. Tojo instantly stopped and so did the beams of red light coming from the crystal. His eyes widened in surprise but they also held relief.

"Thank God . . . crystal . . . not myself anymore . . . free . . ." he stuttered out.

And with that, he slid forward off of Syaoran's sword and dropped to the ground dead. As he fell he dropped the crystal. It hit the ground and rolled a bit before stopping to lie by itself unscathed. Syaoran exhaled the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding and re-sheathed his sword. Kero had witnessed the whole thing from his spot on the floor.

"Way to go kid! You stopped him!" he cheered.

"Yeah I know. I'm relieved he's gone, although it seems like I did him a favor when it really comes down to it," Syaoran spat bitterly.

"Who cares?! He's gone!"

"Yeah well so is Sakura!" Syaoran shouted heatedly, "And it's his fault! I wanted to make him miserable! Not do him a favor . . ."

Kero looked away, sadness evident in his beady eyes.

"I know kid. I'm gonna miss Sakura too. It's not fair how this all turned out. But the most important thing is that Tojo is gone, so now your family, Sakura's family, and the world are safe and nobody has to worry about this anymore," Kero reminded the prince.

"Well it doesn't feel like the most important thing to me," Syaoran said honestly crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sakura would be very grateful," Kero added.

"I know . . ."

"Well hey could you at least untie me already? I'm tired of lying on the floor," Kero whined.

Syaoran ran his fingers through his unruly hair.

"Yeah just let me stick this dumb crystal back where it belongs first, before anything else happens. Then we can think of how to get rid of it."

Syaoran trudged over to the crystal and picked it up but the moment he touched it he was over come by its strong aura. It swirled around him echoing deviant thoughts inside his head. Kero noticed that something was not right.

"Hey. Hey Syaoran. Yo kid what's wrong!?" he called out to him.

But Syaoran couldn't hear him. All he heard was a whispered voice that started out faint but grew stronger by the second.

_Power . . . destruction . . . you can do anything . . . you now have the power . . . you can't be beat . . . you can have the strongest kingdom in the world . . . The Li kingdom will be unbeatable . . . Use me . . . Become one with me . . ._

Syaroan could see himself ruling everything from the Li kingdom. It was tempting and a few weeks earlier he probably would have accepted the crystal and used it. But now it didn't seem like such a phenomenal offer. He could think of so many other things he'd rather do now and because of this crystal the person he wanted to do these things with was gone. A fleeting image of Sakura's smiling face flashed through his mind. Syaoran suddenly blinked at the memory of the missing princess and regained control of him self.

He held the crystal high over his head as he shouted, "The only thing I want from you is for Sakura to be back here with me!"

He threw it down as hard as he could onto some of the sharp rubble that had fallen from the roof of the cave shattering the crystal into a thousand tiny pieces. A bright red flash filled the cave and Syaoran heard the voice one more time.

_Such a wasted use of my power . . ._

The prince had to shield his eyes from the brilliant light. Once it died down Syaoran looked at the floor where the shattered shards of the crystal were scattered. The shards were all softly glowing. Suddenly a ball of soft, red light started to form above the glowing shards. At first Syaoran was afraid that the crystal was reforming but as the ball of light grew in size Syaoran realized that wasn't happening. As the sphere of light got bigger, the glow of the shards weakened. Syaoran thought he could see the outline of a human body inside the bubble of light. The person was hugging their knees with their head down.

_Could it be?_ Syaoran dared to hope.

Suddenly the light dispersed to reveal Sakura floating in midair still dressed in the Kinomoto female knight's uniform.

Kero stared at the girl, jaw dropped, "No way!"

Syaoran reached out to take her but pulled back afraid that this was some cruel trick. He shook his head and reached out again this time taking her into his arms protectively. He knelt down resting her on his knees and gently ran the back of his finger along the side of her face lovingly.

"Sakura . . ." he exhaled, not believing she was lying in his arms.

He waited for a response of any kind from the girl but when he didn't receive one he started to shake her slightly, fear gripping his heart that she wasn't okay after all.

"Sakura? Sakura are you okay?! Please wake up!"

She groaned and Syaoran immediately sighed in relief. He set her down on the ground as she opened her eyes. She blinked a few times before focusing on him.

"Syaoran?"

After Syaoran helped her sit up, she looked around.

"Where's Tojo?! And Shiro?!"

"Hey it's okay," Syaoran spoke softly, trying to calm her down. "They're gone."

Sakura stared at him with puzzlement written all over her face. "What happened?"

Syaoran quickly gave her a recap of what took place after she disappeared.

"The crystal was very powerful in more ways than one. I almost couldn't destroy it," he admitted, "but I overcame it and smashed it. And then you reappeared. Where did you go anyway?"

Sakura gazed at the wall as she tried to recall what had happened to her.

"I . . . I don't know . . . It was dark and cold and, well, nothing . . . Just black. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. I felt so lonely. It was the most unsettling feeling I've ever had," she finished with a shiver.

"Well you're back now. And I smashed the crystal into pieces so you'll never have to feel that way again," the prince assured her.

Sakura smiled. Not being able to hold back any longer, she threw her arms around Syaoran and hugged him tight. A smiled broke out across his face he and gladly hugged her back.

"Thank you for saving me Syaoran."

"Don't mention it."

His smile fell somewhat as he added, "What are friends for?"

He couldn't see it but Sakura's smile slipped a little at his words.

"Yeah . . ."

"Awww, isn't that nice?" Kero said with a slight edge to his voice. "Now . . . will someone PLEASE untie me!? This rope is starting to chaff. . ."

Sakura and Syaoran laughed as they got up and helped Kero. While Syaoran was untying Kero Sakura walked over to the shattered remains of the crystal.

"Oh . . ."

She bent down and picked up the shard that was hers. It was still on the necklace chain. For some reason she just couldn't part with it so she put it back around her neck. The three heroes left the cave without a backwards glance. They left Tojo's body and the shattered shards of the crystal on the floor. Once they got down the mountain they stopped to take a break. Shortly after they sat down they saw a carriage approaching them. Sakura noticed that the crest on the front was from her kingdom. They pulled up to the group once they recognized Sakura.

"Ah, princess Sakura! It's wonderful to see that you are doing okay," the coachman beamed. "Your parents sent us out to check on the progress of your journey. Is the crystal destroyed yet?"

"Yes," Sakura happily reported.

"And Tojo?"

"Dead," Syaoran informed him.

The coachman's smiled widened. "Wonderful!"

"What about everyone at the castle?" Sakura asked eagerly, she was desperate to know about her friends and family.

"Oh they're fine. Once Tojo left to find you two he took his best soldiers with so we had no trouble getting rid of the few he left at the castle. Prince Toya, Lady Meilin, and Prince Eriol took care of them without a problem."

Sakura sighed, "Good. That's a relief."

"After the soldiers were locked up your parents sent us out to find you so we could get you back to the castle and get you ready as soon as possible."

Sakura blinked questioningly. "Get me ready for what?"

"Why for your marriage to Prince Eriol of course."

"What?!" Sakura shouted, the coachman's words catching her off guard. "But I'm not supposed to marry him for at least another two weeks."

The coachman nodded, "Yes but after this your parents want you to be married to him as soon as possible. Plus they feel that the kingdom needs a happy celebration to help people get over this whole power crystal mess and what's happier than a wedding?" he asked with a smile. "So hurry and get in the carriage so we can get back."

Sakura looked at Syaoran who was staring at the ground so she wouldn't see the disappointment in his eyes. She turned back to the coachman.

"But what about Syaoran?"

"There should be a coach coming from his kingdom to pick him up. His mother told their coachman to bring him straight home to the Li Kingdom. She figured he would need to relax after your journey and wouldn't have wanted to sit through the wedding anyway since he's not one for celebrations."

The coachman looked at Syaoran. "Will you be alright waiting for your carriage by yourself?"

"Uh, yeah . . ." Syaoran said still in shock at the news of the sudden wedding change.

"All right then. Come along Princess. We really have to get going."

"Please, just give me a moment," she requested as she took Syaoran and Kero off to the side to say her farewells.

"Well . . . I guess this is it. Our journey is finally over and we were successful. Thanks for all your help Syaoran, and yours too Kero. I couldn't have done it without you guys," she said sincerely.

Syaoran smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it. It was an adventure I'll never forget. Priceless memories I wouldn't trade for anything."

Kero nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah we did make a great team didn't we? I'm going to miss you guys . . ."

Kero couldn't hold it back; he started to cry.

"Oh don't cry Kero," Sakura chucked, "You're welcome to come visit me anytime."

Sakura look at Syaoran.

"That goes for you too. Don't be a stranger Syaoran. You will always be welcome in my kingdom, although I'll be queen of the Hiiragizawa kingdom in a day so you'll have to visit me there . . ."

The three of them got quiet, all lost in their own thoughts. Sakura shook her head to rid it of the unhappy thoughts she was feeling about the wedding. She took off her shard, took Syaoran's hand, and placed it in his open palm.

"Here, I want you to have this."

"Oh, no I couldn't," he replied trying to give it back.

"Please, I want you to have it to sort of remember me by."

Syoaran stared at Sakura intensely then closed his fingers around it.

"I could never forget you Sakura. But . . . if I'm taking something of yours then I want you to take something important of mine."

Syaoran reached inside his shirt and pulled off a silver chain with a small black and white yin yang charm hanging from it. He reached over and put it on Sakura.

"I haven't taken that necklace off since I got it when I turned six," he informed her. "The day I started my martial arts training my sensei gave it to me to remind me to stay focused and balanced. It's also the crest of the Li kingdom so if you ever come to my kingdom and you show that you will be treated with the utmost respect and dignity by anyone who sees it. I want you to have it."

Sakura brought her hand up to his necklace and wrapped her fingers around it as she smiled at him.

"Thank you Syaoran."

The royal pair hugged one last time, then Syaoran reluctantly let her go and she hugged Kero. Finally she headed for the carriage. Right before stepping in she turned back to them, a forlorn sadness glimmering in her eyes.

"Good-bye . . ."

She quickly climbed into the coach to keep them from seeing the tears she was shedding. Once she was seated the coachman jerked the horse reigns and they rode away. Syaoran and Kero stood there and watched the carriage until it disappeared. Once it was out of sight Syaoran sighed and sat down on a nearby rock.

"Well, I guess that's it then."

Syoaran opened his closed hand and looked at Sakura's shard. Without a word he put it on. Kero fluttered down onto a rock next to him. They sat there in silence for several minutes neither having anything to say. Finally Syoaran turned to Kero.

"You don't have to stay here you know. I can wait for my ride by myself."

"I can't believe you," Kero spat suddenly.

Syaoran blinked in response to the tone in the forest sprites voice.

"What? What did I do?"

"It's not what you did it's what you didn't do," Kero said crossing his paws over his chest.

"Huh?"

Irritated with the prince's stupidity Kero flew into his face.

"I can't believe you let Sakura go like that!"

"Well what was I supposed to do?!" Syaoran shouted defensively.

"Oh gee, I don't know. Maybe you could have told her how you really feel about her!"

Syaoran looked away.

"It wouldn't matter. Nothing would change. Sakura's going to marry Eriol regardless of how I feel."

"How do you know?!"

"Look I just want to go home and forget all about this."

Kero sighed sympathetically. "I know this is hard for you but it's only going to get worse."

Syaoran glanced at Kero. "What do you mean?"

"Kid if you go home without ever telling Sakura how you feel you'll always regret it. Especially since you never found out how she feels about you."

Syoaran looked away with sad eyes. "She doesn't love me . . ."

"You don't know that," Kero shot back.

"Well it's too late now," he sighed, admitting defeat.

"Kid it's never over until you've tried every possibility."

Syaoran looked off in the direction of the Kinomoto Kingdom, thoughts of losing Sakura for good running through his mind. Thoughts that made him feel incredibly lonely . . .

_**End chapter 8.**_

**A/N:** Well another chapter completed, only one more to go! And then that will be the end of this little story. So I guess I'll see you one last time :) Happy New Year everybody! Best wishes in 2008!

_SakuraJade_


	9. True Confessions and a Wedding

**A/N:** Okay everybody! Here it is! The FINAL chapter of "Learning to Love"! I hope everyone that read this really enjoyed it. Thanks for sticking with me and for the reviews. I know this is the last chapter but please don't skip on the reviews . . . Tell me what you thought of the chapter or tell me what you thought of the story over all but please say something, especially if you haven't reviewed at all for this story. I'd really appreciate it. Anyway, here we go! I hope you all enjoy the ending! I'm going for super fluffy cute!

Disclaimer: "I, of course, claim no ownership of "Cardcaptor Sakura" what-so-ever! It all belongs to CLAMP, duh! Lol"

" means spoken words

_italics_ means thoughts

( means insert A/N, sound, movement, etc.

**Learning to Love**

_Chapter 9: True Confessions and a Wedding_

Sakura's carriage pulled up to the castle. The coachman opened the door and escorted her up the long staircase. She'd hardly set one foot inside the castle entrance before Tomoyo was hugging her.

"Oh Sakura you're okay! I'm so happy you made it!" she squealed in delight as she squeezed her friend tightly.

The rest of the group started to surround her. Toya walked up to her and razzed her head as he gave her a half smile.

"You did good squirt. I'm impressed."

Sakura knocked his hand away from her head as she started to fix her hair.

"I told you I wouldn't let you down," she narrowed her eyes, "And don't call me squirt."

Despite the look she gave him for calling her "squirt" she smiled and hugged him anyway.

"You've accomplished a wonderful thing Sakura."

"Thanks Yukito."

"Welcome back darling. I'm so relieved you made it," Nadeshiko said.

Fujitaka had his arm around Nadeshiko's shoulders. "Yes we're all very proud of you."

"Thank you Mom, Dad."

Someone tapped Sakura on the shoulder. She turned around to see Meilin's smiling face.

"Congrats on your success Sakura."

"Yes I'm glad you've returned unharmed," Yelan said as she stopped next to Meilin. "What about my son? He's all right too yes?"

Sakura gave a small nod. "Yes he's fine. I couldn't have done it without him. He's going back to the Li Kingdom as we speak."

Eriol finally approached her.

"Uh . . . I'm glad you're okay Sakura."

"Yes I'm . . . happy to see you again."

They both looked down at the ground and continued to look at everything but each other. Silence descended on the group. Nobody knew what to say. Finally Nadeshiko chimed in.

"Well then, we'd better start preparing for the wedding. It will be held tomorrow afternoon. Come along sweetheart we have much to do before then," she exclaimed to her husband.

He nodded in agreement. "Yes we must go finish the planning. We'll see you for dinner Sakura."

Fujitaka gave Sakura a kiss on the forehead and, together with Nadeshiko, left the front entrance.

Eriol cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I too have things to prepare so I will have to see you later."

He bowed to Sakura and left the room. Meilin and Tomoyo approached her.

"Well we aren't too busy to see you," Meilin said cheerfully.

"Yeah, we want to hear all about you're adventure."

Sakura smiled. "Thanks you guys."

The three of them started talking as they walked around the castle. Sakura told Meilin and Tomoyo all about her adventures with Syaoran and Kero.

"Wow, you and Syaoran sure went through a lot. I'm kind of surprised you made it back," Meilin admitted sheepishly.

"Thanks a lot Meilin," Sakura deadpanned. "Well enough about me, what happened while I was gone?"

Tomoyo shrugged. "Not much. Tojo made us all stay in the great hall so he could keep a constant eye on all of us. He didn't hurt any of us though. He was too busy trying to track down you and Prince Syaoran."

"Of course he wouldn't tell us what was going on so Tomoyo, Eriol, and I would sneak around the room he was staying in and find out what was up," Meilin added. "To our relief you and my cousin always seemed to be one step ahead of him."

Meilin snickered and Tomoyo gave her a serious look.

"Yeah but we almost got caught a few times."

She turned back to Sakura and gave her a smile.

"But it was worth it. I'm just so happy you made it back okay."

"Me too, but I can't believe that I just got back and now I'm getting married . . ." Sakura trailed off nervously.

Tomoyo's smile fell a bit. "So, you're really going to marry Eriol?"

"I guess so."

Tomoyo glanced at Meilin who shrugged her shoulders. They were both so sure that Sakura and Syaoran would get together. They were rather disappointed, Tomoyo most of all, but she replaced her smile and took Sakura's hand in hers.

"Well then we'd better get your stuff together. You have a big day ahead of you."

Tomoyo started to lead Sakura towards her room. Meilin watched them go and sighed.

"I want to say "poor Tomoyo" but I can't help but say "poor Sakura" as well. This is not a happy ending. . ."

Meilin shook her head sadly and set off to catch up with Tomoyo and Sakura.

**XXXXXX**

The next morning the castle was a buzz with excitement. Sakura was locked up in her bed chambers with her handmaids as well as Tomoyo and Meilin. All three were being dressed and fancied up. Eriol was also cooped up all day in the room he was staying in. By mid-afternoon everybody was ready and the courtyard was filled with the town's people, as well as citizens from some of the surrounding kingdoms. Sakura was still in her room when she heard a knock at her door followed by her father's voice.

"Sakura, sweetie, it's time to go downstairs. Are you ready?"

Sakura quickly wiped her eyes dry and banished all thoughts of a certain chestnut-haired boy from her mind. Then she opened the door. Her father's eyes shinned at the sight of his lovely daughter.

"Oh Sakura . . . You look beautiful. I can't believe my little girl is all grown up."

Fujitaka linked arms with his daughter and brought her down to the ceremony. Once there he led her down the aisle where she met up with Eriol. Tomoyo and Meilin were her bridesmaids and were positioned off to the side of the alter. Toya and Yukito were standing up for Eriol. All of Syaoran's sisters squealed at how pretty Sakura looked as Nadeshiko was wiping tears of joy from her eyes. Sakura kissed her father on the cheek before he went to take his seat. She then turned to Eriol.

_This is it. After today I'm going to be known as Queen Sakura Hiiragizawa. . . _

The Priest approached the alter and started the ceremony. Sakura wasn't paying attention though; she couldn't stop thinking about how wrong it felt. She didn't want to do this, at least not with Eriol. Suddenly Eriol's voice broke through her thoughts.

"I do," he said rather emotionlessly.

"Princess Sakura, do you take Prince Eriol of the Hiiragizawa Kingdom to be-"

"Stop! Stop the ceremony!"a male voice interrupted the Priest.

Murmurs quickly broke out among the crowd as everybody turned to look at the courtyard entrance. To everyone's surprise, Syaoran was standing there with a yellow forest sprite floating next to him. He was still wearing the Kinomoto Kingdom knights' uniform. Sakura's eyes lit up and she couldn't help but smile. Syaoran walked down the aisle, his face expressionless. As he neared the front his mother, who was occupying an aisle seat, stood up and spoke.

"Syaoran, what are you doing here? What is the meaning-"

"Mother I'm sorry," he cut her off, "I mean no dishonor but I have to do this or I won't be able to live with myself."

Syaoran hurried past her missing the smile that spread across her face. Meilin was also smiling as well as Tomoyo, although hers was in hopes that Eriol would not be married today. Toya and Yukito were confused but that didn't stop Toya from acting out. He marched up the aisle and blocked Syaoran's path.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! I knew you were trouble from the moment I met you."

"Look I need to talk to Sakura so get out of my way. I don't want to fight you but I will if I have to.

Toya locked eyes with Syaoran and saw peer determination burning in them. After a few seconds Toya silently stepped aside. Syaoran said nothing as he rushed past him. When he reached the end he stopped in front of Sakura and looked her over. She could feel her face heating up under Syaoran's deep stare.

"You look beautiful Sakura," he breathed out.

Sakura's blush deepened at his words.

"Th-thank-you . . ."

The pair just stood there, gazing at each other softly, not uttering a word. The silence was deafening so Eriol finally spoke up.

"So Syaoran, I hate to be so blunt but why are you here? After all it must be pretty important for you to rush over here and interrupt our wedding ceremony."

Syaoran gave the blue-haired prince a look.

"Well come on, out with it," Eriol pressed. "We do have some important business to take care of."

"Wish I could say I'm sorry for interrupting your wedding but I can't because that's what I came here to do."

Syaoran turned back to Sakura and took her hand in his.

"Sakura thanks to you I've changed. Having to go on that journey with you is the best thing that ever happened to me. I was such a cold-hearted jerk before but now, because of you, I know how important friendship is. Most importantly I now have a true appreciation for the feeling we call love. I know you're getting married to Eriol and that you probably don't feel the same way but I just had to tell you how I feel before I lost my chance forever."

He took a deep breath as he placed one had on her cheek gently.

"I love you Sakura. I am truly in love with you. I love everything about you. I will never forget you and I will always regret turning you away the first day we met. I was such a fool. I only hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

By now Sakura had tears running down her cheeks. Luckily for Syaoran, they were tears of joy. Sakura wiped her eyes then threw her arms around Syaoran in a fierce hug. He wrapped his arms around her figure in return however he was unsure of the nature of the hug. He was afraid that it was a hug out of pity. He was worried that she was crying because she felt sorry for him.

"Sakura please don't-"

"Oh Syaoran thank you! Thank you for coming back for me! Thank you for stopping the wedding! I love you too. You're the one I want to be with," she said softly.

Syaoran sighed in relief and tightened his grip on her in response. Eventually she turned to Eriol, Syaoran's arms still around her waist in a protective grip.

"I'm so sorry Eriol, but I just can't marry you. I know you'd make a great husband but the only person I can even think about being with is Syaoran. I'd never really be happy otherwise."

Eriol shook his head knowingly. "It's okay. I think I know exactly how you feel."

Eriol leaned in and kissed Sakura's cheek. Syaoran frowned but he contained himself since it was a kiss goodbye with nothing else intended. Eriol then put his hand out towards Syaoran.

"Congratulations Syaoran. Sakura's an amazing woman."

Syaoran half smiled as he glanced down at the girl in his arms.

"I know."

They quickly shook hands firmly as Toya stepped back up to the alter.

"You'd better take care of her kid."

Syaoran smiled slyly. "Oh I will, if only because I don't want you on my ass."

Toya chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. Fujitaka and Nadeshiko approached them followed by Yelan.

"Sakura, is this what you really want?"

"Yes mother, more than anything. I hope you don't disapprove."

"Of course we don't," Fujitaka exclaimed delightedly. "All we've ever wanted was for you to be happy and eventually marry a prince hopefully."

"And Syaoran is a prince who makes you happy so we definitely approve. Plus, he was the prince we picked out in the first place," Nadeshiko finished.

Sakura smiled at her parents. Yelan spoke to Syaoran.

"My son I am so happy for you. You have finally grown into a true man that I can be proud of."

Syaoran blushed slightly. "Thank you mother."

She turned to the princess. "And you dear Sakura. Thank you for opening my son's heart. You are a truly amazing woman to accomplish such a feat."

"Thank you."

Syaoran felt a light punch on his back. He turned around and saw his cousin standing there. She immediately hugged him.

"Welcome back cousin. Glad you showed." _For more reasons than one. . ._

Meilin was happy for Sakura and Syaoran but she was also happy for a certain purple-haired girl. She saw Tomoyo heading towards Eriol's retreating figure and smiled. Maybe there could be two happy endings. Eriol was walking back into the castle since his presences was no longer needed. Before he could open the door he heard someone call out his name.

"Eriol wait!"

He turned around and saw Tomoyo approaching him.

"I'm so sorry about what happened," she said sincerely.

He smiled at Tomoyo's concern.

"It's okay. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. As great a girl as Sakura is I'm not too upset that I'm not going to marry her."

"Oh . . . Well why not?"

Eriol gave a crooked smile. "Well because I can think of a different young lady that I'd rather spend my time with instead."

Tomoyo blinked. "Who?"

Eriol took her hand and pulled her close to him.

"You."

Before Tomyo could reply he covered her lips with his. Tomoyo was surprised but closed her eyes in sheer bliss as the rest of the world melted away from them. Meilin was looking in their direction and smiled.

_Way to go Tomoyo. You and Eriol were made for each other._

She turned back to Syaoran and Sakura.

"Well what are you waiting for?! Kiss her already, we aren't getting any younger!"

Syaoran and Sakura blushed but despite that he leaned down and kissed her passionately. Meilin held her flowers close to her heart as she sighed happily.

"Now this is the happy ending I was hoping for."

Yukito was standing next to her and nodded his head in agreement.

"Me too."

And so two weeks later Syaoran and Sakura had a double wedding with Eriol and Tomoyo in the Kinomoto Kingdom, since that was where it all began. There was peace in their kingdoms for the rest of their years and the two couples most definitely lived happily-ever-after.

_**THE END.**_

**A/N:** There, I'm finished! That is the end to "Learning to Love". A nice corny fairy tale-like ending to go with my corny fairy tale-like beginning! Lol Anyway I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. The fluffy moments just make me go, in the words of Sakura, Hanyan . . . Hahaha! So I hope they make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside too. Well that's all so I hope to see you guys again as reviewers for some of the future CCS stories I intend to write! Thanks again for your support :) Ja ne!!

_SakuraJade_


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